New Beginnings
by Starseeded
Summary: -07 verse, Sequel to Learning to Fly.- What happens when mentioned Seeker is given a second chance at life? Especially when he's raised around the Autobots and some helping hands? Starscream-centric. Complete!
1. While I Breathe, I Hope

_**A/N: I do not own Transformers.**_

_Thank you to bloodshifter for the help._

_Hope you all like the story._

* * *

**New Beginnings**

First Aid sat staring blankly at the wall. He wasn't sure why Ratchet had sent him down here in the first place, Optimus was perfectly fine. He grumbled to himself. Optimus was in fact fine. But it wasn't because he was ready, no, he sensed something distressing. First Aid peered up at the leader when he moved his arm, "Optimus! You're awake!"

The little sparkling was in the med bay with the two giants who had taken him away from his caretaker, and now there were a lot more of them. They were all standing inside the doors and on the outside trying to get in to where he was hiding under Ratchet, too much in awe to listen to Ironhide and the medic about getting out. He let out an ear and audio sensor searing scream, causing the humans to duck and cover their ears as they run and the sound actually caused all of the Autobots to cover their audio sensors. He was scared of everyone trying to poke him and when he felt the waking of his caretaker he instantly wanted to go to him, but he couldn't find a way out, as the door that he had come in had a lot of optics staring at him, watching him. They were more surprised the little critter could let out that much noise from its itsy bitsy vocals and he muttered something, blinking.

"So I am," he stated as he moved to sit quickly, his voice was low and calm as he said that. As if he was aggravated at someone or something. Even though Optimus was still weak, he instantly went to stand.

"But you're not nearly ready to come out of recharge, sir," First Aid stood up and moved in front of his leader.

Optimus searched for what was distressing. It was as if he felt something akin to him missing and very frightened, it was the sparkling. He looked around the room curiously, before honing in on the sensation. He could feel that the sparkling was frightened and A powerful urge wanting to go to the call that came through his audios.

The sound of thunder ran through the base and they could feel his feet hitting the ground. It was big, it was running and it was headed right for them. Everyone turned to look down both corridors, finding nothing, as the sound came from all around. Finally someone saw him and looked up at him. Wheeljack suddenly was so surprised his emergency lights flickered, since he was hazmat pickup catching everyone else's attention.

"Run for cover!" Sideswipe suddenly yelled, as he broke free of the crowd and started running backwards, pulling Sunstreaker with him, "He doesn't look happy, guys!" No one got in the way of a Prime and his sparkling.

With that, Sideswipe and his brother booked down the other way, quickly followed by the younger ones who grabbed the humans as they darted, but Wheeljack, Prowl, Ratchet and Ironhide didn't move. Wheeljack moved out of Optimus' way as he moved forward, getting to the door just as he saw something in the air in front of him that gave him a sudden feeling of relief over him as he made some chirping sounds and then he gave out a soft resonating hum. The sparkling went right at him, and just then Optimus felt what it was and who and he smiled.

"Optimus, you have a sparkling?" Prowl asked.

He gave no answer instantly, his attention was diverted heavily, only looking down at the sparkling with soft optics, another soft hum resonating from him before he finally answered the curious ones, "Yes," his optics still pinned on the sparkling that was comfortably latched onto the chest armor of the Prime, pulling at armor until Optimus answered him with opening his chest enough so the sparkling could crawl through and there he sat, right next to his caretaker's spark, chirping happily while muttering in his strange language.

"But how?" Wheeljack suddenly asked, watching the sparkling disappear under it's caretaker's armor, he approached cautiously before a sudden glimpse of something caught his optic and he peered around his leader at everyone who was down the corridor watching apprehensively. Sam was down on the ground pointing to Optimus, "Is… is he purring?" he whispered to the first one he saw, was Sunstreaker, who just shrugged. They went back to watching.

"One sliver of the Allspark and the Matrix,"

"Does it have a designation yet?"

"Yes, in fact, _he_ does," Ratchet smiled as he stared down at the spot where the sparkling disappeared, recognizing the behavior, "His name is Starscream," he spoke the name in English this time. This time everyone heard it, and there was the thundering of footsteps as they ran back to the med bay, Optimus spun to look, all of them had shocked faces. The humans were also shocked as they perched on Bee and Sideswipe.

Well that wasn't expected. Everyone gaped at Ratchet and their gazes went to their leader, "Starscream? Why that name? He died! Why would you name a sparkling after someone we watch die, Optimus?"

"He isn't dead," Optimus felt the sparkling wanting to get out, so he shifted some metal and his chest parted slight to allow him out. Starscream moved to Optimus' shoulder, looking now down on everyone curiously. He knelt down, going to all fours and leaning out so he could see them better. Optimus put his arm up for the little seeker and he took the hint, perching himself on his hand, "He's right here,"

Sam stare was shared by everyone, "How is that possible?" Prowl asked, fritting his processors for any logical explanation.

"Primus is full of surprises," Optimus smiled as the sparkling regarded everyone, then the humans curiously, tilting his head and chirping at them before he leapt down from his perch, now too curious to just continue to look, he wanted to touch. Sam took a step back when he saw the red optics. The sparkling twittered at him and took a step closer. His bright, red optics filled with childlike curiosity.

"Don't be afraid, Samuel, he won't hurt you,"

"But that's Starscream! It's like reincarnation, a little freaky," Sam watched the sparkling when he tilted his head again. He suddenly beeped and muttered something, approaching slowly; he got closer then reached out his small claws to Sam. Sam suddenly wasn't all that brave, leaning back as the claws got closer. Starscream didn't stop trying to touch the squishy and he leaned closer, he lightly poked him. Sam jumped back, and the sparkling withdrew his claw, muttering again. It was quite comical seeing Sam's reaction and the face that crossed the little seeker.

When Sam finally took a good hard look at the seeker, he noticed he didn't look like the Starscream he knew, he looked different. A lot different, "If that's Starscream, then why does he look so different?"

"Because that's his Cybertronian proto-form," Optimus answered as he saw the teen looking Starscream up and down, simply amazed at the intricacies of how he was built.

Ratchet interrupted Sam and Starscream as he made a sound like a deep growl, something akin to 'clearing the vocal processors', "Optimus, I took the liberty of running complete scans on him, he is perfectly healthy. He's using Seeker sparkling language, however, and I cannot understand it. Never could, for some reason." Ratchet looked up at his tired leader, his right optic twitching, "And you need to rest."

* * *

Hidden from view, Frenzy was determined to find out how to shut down the plasma cannons that were killing off the Decepticons. He learned about it about 8 years prior, when Barricade told him that something was shooting down Decepticons like they were meteors. Even though they were with the Autobots, both of them had another agenda, Barricade had formulated a plan to get into the place. He used an excuse to not get a million questions about his different alt form. He set it up that he was someone who belonged to another someone who was there for 'observation'. Therefore, no one suspected him or his 'car' which was a Black Saleen Mustang, but it was no longer a cruiser.

He was a good little hacker, and if anyone could get the cannons shut down, it was him.

"How is it coming along?"

"Slowly,"

"Hurry it up, they're going to start wonder what I am doing here so late."

"You're a car, who suspects a car?"

"That doesn't matter, I don't belong here now." He stressed the words to give Frenzy a hint that he meant business, "Ok, fine."

Frenzy worked quickly, connecting himself with the computers, setting himself undetected as he went about searching files. He was quick to find out a lot of information, including the power source, the way it ran, which was not all that dissimilar to Cybertronian.

"Got it," he disconnected and sped out of the computer room, the cameras never seeing him because of his ability to cloak, and he skittered out. Just then he had tripped a silent alarm, but Barricade made quickly of getting out of there, disappearing in the traffic as the cops and everything headed in the opposite direction. Frenzy watched, "They are slow, 'Cade."

"Primitives," he paused, "You have what we need?"

"Yes," and he started rambling as he sent data bursts to Barricade. Barricade wasn't pleased. This would be harder than he thought to disarm it. They needed to get in there and disarm it, but the humans protected that place so much, could they possibly break through the defenses? If they were to try something like that, would it spare the other Decepticons who were waiting on Mars and the moon enough time to get to Earth and not get shot at?

/ Barricade to Thundercracker. / The shock trooper sent.

/ Thundercracker here, report. /

/ It will be risky, and there will probably be casualties, but I believe we can attack the power source and get the cannons offline long enough for you all to get here. /

/ How long? /

/ I am not sure, yet, but I think if they were off for a few short seconds, then if they fired, they would miss because they would most likely be out of calibration from the sudden shut down. /

/ Good news. I will report to the red planet about it and get them here, it will take about an Earth day to get them here and I will signal you. Thundercracker out. /

No one ever saw the mysterious guy, who had gone to the facility again, and he was suspected of stealing something, but they had no proof and he apparently completely vanished. He reformed into his cruiser mode which he had in his memory and returned to the Autobots getting a startling reading.

* * *

_I know, it wasn't all sparkling cute, but I figured there would be surprises._


	2. Where There is a Will, There is a Way

**_A/N: Don't own Transformers._**

_Thanks again, Blood Shifter, your help makes this possible :D_

_Thank you to all our readers, too, glad you all enjoy the Sequel hehe_

_Now, let's just see if Barricade succeeds with his devious little plan, eh?_

* * *

"_That_ is _Starscream_?" Came a deep baritone voice. Starscream shied from the voice. He sounded angry and mean. His attention diverted to the small silver form that was sitting on Barricade's shoulder, blinking and staring at him.

"The almighty Starscream, Air Commander of the Decepticons reduced down to this little _runt_?" Frenzy asked, his blue optics blinking as he leaned down to see the little sparkling closer. Starscream automatically backed up from the prying optics, muttering something they didn't understand.

"Re-sparked," Optimus' optics narrowed at Barricade. He didn't like how Barricade and Frenzy were speaking of said seeker.

Barricade laughed, his laugh followed by a mechanical maniac's giggle, "He can't speak either?" Barricade really should watch how he speaks of a sparkling that belongs to a Prime, "He can, just none of us can understand it, since Seeker sparklings only use this tongue." His voice was low as he spoke, almost like a warning to the shock trooper to shut his vocal processors.

Starscream gave an indignant growl at the two who were sizing him up. He really wasn't liking them right now. It didn't do much for the Decepticons as they looked down at him and started to chuckle and then started _laughing_ at him. Barricade lowered his hand to the sparkling, who was now speaking to himself constantly in his own language. The Shock Trooper went to poke at Starscream, still surprised the supposed Second in Command of the Decepticons was now this tiny sparkling. He was even more surprised when said sparkling took the opportunity to bite the offending claw. He didn't want this mean bot to be anywhere near him and he backed up after he released his bite after hearing Barricade growl. Barricade leaned forward, glaring at the biter, who glared back.

Even in his tiny form, Starscream was already showing signs in his behavior that was definitely him. Barricade went to lift his hand near the sparkling and then with a quick move of his fingers, he poked the seeker again. Starscream backed up, his little legs skittering as he turned and darted for his caretaker. He was scared of this guy. Why was he poking him? Who did he think he was, anyways? Optimus let out another soft hum to the Seeker as he climbed up his abdomen to his chest plate and poked at him until his caretaker let him in to hide from the offending bot.

Barricade recognized the hum, "He's… your sparkling?" that made him drop his hand in surprise. He knew the hum that Optimus was sending to the sparkling was something only sent between caretakers and their young. Optimus nodded, seeing the shock on Barricade's face plates. He could still hear Starscream twittering and chirping in his chest armor. He could feel Starscream's agitation.

"How?" Okay, a sparkling is one thing. A sparkling of Starscream could be explained by Wheeljack, he was sure, but Starscream as a newly-sparked sparkling? _Huh_?

"A Prime never reveals all of his secrets," Optimus smiled with one of those 'I know something you don't know' smiles and looked down at his chest when he felt Starscream trying to make an energon connection with him. Starscream wasn't old enough to produce self sustaining Energon, so that meant he was dependant on his caretaker for his feedings. Not like he minded, it was a type of bonding when he offered to initiate feeding by tapping the special lines he could hook up to. Optimus felt the tap and opened the ports for him as he did. Ah, the simplest of things were so the best.

Barricade and Frenzy both watched Optimus curiously, trying to figure him out. After deciding that he wasn't going to tell them anything else, they both sulked out of the office. Barricade had originally gone to tell Optimus about the other Decepticons that were still in space, and yet, he had been alerted to something that even he was sort of speechless about.

What would Thundercracker think? And Skywarp? He initiated a transmission.

/ I will be at the power supply station in a few cliks. Are you all prepared for entry? /

/ Affirmative. /

/ When you land, I will need to secure that you guys aren't shot at. /

/ Didn't you speak with Optimus? /

/ Uh…/ the line went dead for a short second.

/ Barricade? /

/ I didn't speak to him about it, Sorry / how was he going to tell the seeker that their leader and wing mate was re-sparked into a bubbly sparkling? Heh. He and Frenzy headed to the station and there he sought out the perimeter, "You know what to do, Frenzy,"

No answer.

"Frenzy?"

"Yeah, yeah," Frenzy groaned. He knew what this entailed, and he knew he was gonna get shot at and whatnot, but to get the others here, he would do it. Besides, it's not like they could kill him. He wasn't so easily killed, just as the people years prior found out.

Frenzy opened the door to the cruiser and scuttled in behind the fence. Barricade watched Frenzy as he went beside the building, taking out the cameras as he got to them. He planned it out so the cameras wouldn't even see what hit them. Of course, this alerted the security within the building and the alarms went off. Now was the time to move, when the humans were in disarray.

Frenzy darted into the suddenly opened door as people piled out. They hadn't seen him because he was for one thing too fast, the other, they weren't looking for him. He moved through the corridors, hiding in closets and rooms until he made his way to the main room. Other people were still in there. Slag.

/ Three humans in the main computer room. /

Barricade acknowledged Frenzy and suddenly transformed, stepping over the fence to get the attention of the humans. This was part of their plan anyways. People would be too confused by barricade being there than to protect the inside, and they knew it. Barricade walked around from the side until he was face to face with the humans who were still looking for whoever disabled the cameras.

Frenzy listened as someone yelled something over the intercom and the three in the computer room fled. _Time for action_. He moved to the computer, quickly hooking himself up to it as he searched for the power reactors, he signaled them to shut down. More alarms went off in the building as the power went out, the cannons powering down themselves as Frenzy disconnected from the computer, /Now!/

/ Thundercracker, bring them in! /

Barricade continued to talk around, the stinging pings of the bullets more of an annoyance than anything, but he made no move to hurt them, no move to threaten them, he just stalked around as they shot at him until Frenzy scampered out of the building. He transformed and opened his door, then bolted through the fence, watching it spark he severed the electricity in it and disappeared down the road. He made sure he was far away from the scene when he heard Optimus suddenly call him, "Barricade where are you?"

"En route through Tranquility, sir," Barricade lied.

"I need you to go to these coordinates and secure the area, I just got a message about a Decepticon walking around the facilities."

"A Decepticon?" Barricade smirked, hiding it in his voice.

Starscream was worried now. He felt the worry from his creator creep into him and he suddenly started poking at the chest of his creator's armor until he was let out, he skittered around Optimus until he finally came to rest on his shoulder, looking over at him curiously. _Beep_?

Optimus countered the look as he reached for him and held him out to Ratchet, "I need to go find out what is wrong out there, Barricade is en route now," he looked to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and Ironhide, "You all, with me."

Starscream watched as Optimus headed out the open door. Wait! What about him? Why was he leaving him? Starscream struggled in Ratchet's grasp, trying to pull himself free to be with his creator. He didn't want to be separated. Ratchet struggled to hold onto the struggle Seeker, trying to hold him hard without hurting his wings, "Starscream, settle!" Ratchet knew this was the first time that Optimus left him behind, and he also knew it was going to be hell trying to keep him grounded.

Starscream growled and still tried to get free, he pulled hard at the grasp, and when it wouldn't let up, he bit down on the offending hand. Needless to say, the surprise enough got him free, and then he bolted from Ratchet, far enough to turn and watch him shaking his hand furiously. He was cussing up a storm too. Starscream grinned in satisfaction. He leapt into the air and transformed, headed right out the open door like a bird that just became free. He went out and up.

Starscream totally forgot about his creator as he played in the sky. He went up and down, all over, going from one end of the base to the other and back again. Ratchet watched him, hoping he wouldn't take off and leave. Starscream proceeded to play in the vastness that was about him, spinning, turning and ratchet couldn't help but smile watching him. He remembered the old days for a short moment, then remembered the now, and what Seekers loved to do best. Fly.

Starscream was happily bounding all over the base until he picked something strange up on his sensors. Something that was akin to himself. Curiosity got the better of him. Were there other seekers to play with? Ratchet watched in horror as Starscream bolted through the air off the base and dread washed over him as he suddenly ran towards the exit, leaping and transforming as he started to drive, his entire body bouncing off the ground at least twice from the momentum of the leap and speed.

Whatever the signatures were, he was getting closer to them. He could sense them strangely. As if other visions opened for him. When he got closer, he went to the ground; landing and he proceeded to walk as he approached what appeared to anyone else as a meteor crash site.

There were three said meteors lying there. Starscream hide behind a tree as he watched one start to unfold and stand erect, looking around with blood red optics. As if scanning the area for the first time, Thundercracker, completed his scan and then stopped, doubling back as he sensed another Cybertronian near. He froze. They didn't want to fight, and his optics descended upon a tree.

Starscream felt the optics on him and suddenly felt very afraid. His fear wasn't unfelt by his creator and he started to panic, sending the panic to Optimus as well. His panic went to sheer fright as he heard someone come up behind him. Thundercracker watched the small tree, and then his sensors picked up someone else, and Ratchet appeared before them, skidding to a halt as he came upon the three Decepticons there. Skywarp unfolded and so did Soundwave.

/ Optimus, you are never going to believe this. / Just Ratchet's voice made Optimus worry.

/ Where is Starscream? I can feel something isn't right! / And he was inbound.

Starscream felt the curiousness of the Seeker who was looking at him, and he, himself wanted to see the seeker and he looked around the tree, muttering, "Who are you?" he spoke in his own language. Since Starscream had no reason to fear a Decepticon, his fear disappeared as he started to peek further and further from the tree until he was in full view. Soundwave and Skywarp were now staring at the tree and Ratchet transformed, his open aqua optics going to the tree. Dread washed over him, "Starscream," he whispered, "Don't move,"

Thundercracker couldn't believe what he had just heard from the small Cybertronian and Skywarp took a step closer. Starscream backed slightly as they closed in on him, turning his head when he heard Ratchet. When he did, everyone else looked. _SLAG_. Ratchet looked up to the Seekers and the Communications Officer, "How did you get here?" His processor was trying to decide the best course of action to get the sparkling away from the impending danger.

"We are not here to fight, Ratchet, we want to live in peace," Thundercracker spoke to Ratchet, showing that he was unarmed. Everyone else nodded and showed that they were not armed.

"What are you doing here?"

"We have been stuck on Mars and the Moon for years, we know about the humans using plasma cannons to shoot the others from the sky,"

Plasma cannons? Shoot who? What?! Ratchet's attention went back to Starscream who muttered something else. Thundercracker gave the sparkling a raised ridge and replied with the same tones and signals, in which Starscream looked up and slowly started to approach Thundercracker, warily.

/ Ratchet, we are close, what is going on? Where is Starscream? /

/ Optimus, Starscream is talking to Thundercracker. /

There was a deafening silence on the comm. link. Ratchet knew this silence, / They want to defect. /

/ How did they get near him? /

/ After you left, he escaped my grasp and… found them. /

Muttering from the three seekers took Ratchet's attention from the com link. He saw Thundercracker reach down to Starscream and Starscream reached up to him. Deep down Ratchet was scared that they were going to hurt him, but they made no moves to do so, "Ha, would you believe it?"

"What?" Soundwave asked as he softly pet Ravage at his knees where he had sat down to watch the interaction.

"This little guy says his name is Starscream!"

Optimus approached quickly. A little too quickly, unfolding and transforming on the fly as he did so, sliding to a stop to the two seekers and the main seeker who had his sparkling in his hands. Starscream had felt him coming and leapt to him, curling up to him, instantly headed for his chest, where Optimus had it ready for him to go, "What is going on here?"

"Optimus," Thundercracker said, "We don't wish to fight, we wish to be in peace,"

"How did you get here?"

"Barricade and Frenzy disabled the human's plasma cannons."

"The cannons that wiped out the entire fleet of Decepticons," Skywarp remarked, heatedly.

_Plasma Cannons_? Huh? The humans were going to get a talking to, "Barricade harmed humans?"

Just then, as if on cue, Barricade arrived, looking to everyone, feeling rather sheepish, yet proud his plan worked, "No humans were harmed in our retrieval method,"

Frenzy giggled furiously as he pounced on Rumble, completely ignoring the Shock Trooper and Optimus. Soundwave watched the interactions of the young ones and a smile crossed his face plates, but that was well hidden by the visor and the plate over his face, which he never retracted.

Optimus started to hum to Starscream again as he felt him getting low on energon and winding down from his experience. All of the Decepticons except Barricade gave Optimus a shocked look, "That's your sparkling?" Skywarp asked.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you guys why I couldn't speak to Optimus about your entry," Barricade said, watching their confused expressions.

Soundwave watched curiously. He was not only curious how Prime had created a sparkling, but he wanted to know why he had designated it Starscream, "Designation reasoning: Wrong."

Optimus looked to Soundwave, "No, he really is Starscream,"

"How is all this possible? We know that Starscream bit the dust," Skywarp said, a little offended that they would name a Sparkling after their friend.

Optimus nodded to them, "Just know that Primus works in mysterious ways,"

Both Thundercracker and Skywarp's jaws nearly fell off, their serrated teeth visible as they did so, "You're saying that that little sparkling really _is_ Starscream?" They weren't sure whether they wanted to laugh or stomp the little shit to pieces.

"Indeed," Optimus answered.

* * *

_Next: The term Chaos is nothing in comparison as to what sparklings, younglings and humans can get into ...  
_


	3. If I Can't Move Heaven I Will Raise Hell

**_A/N: I do not own Transformers._**

_Thanks for the help Blood Shifter :)_

_Hope you all enjoy, because the chaos starts now on one poor unsuspecting Autobot._

* * *

It could have been little Starscream's fault, but he only spoke in that strange Seeker language, so there was no use asking him.

It could have been Frenzy's fault too, but Frenzy decided to speak so fast, There was no trying or wanting to try to talk to him.

It may have been Rumble who did it too, but there was no way anything was coming from his vocal processor unless it was sardonic or having nothing to do with the issue at hand, and Sunstreaker knew it.

Said twin glared down at them all. He knew it was one of them, but he couldn't prove it. All three of them were doing their best to look innocent and try not to laugh their little afts off at the now splattered pink warrior. Sunstreaker clearly heard someone not too far off snicker, and then they went to the ground with a metallic thud, nothing but laughter coming from them and Sunstreaker snorted as he realized who it was, "Shut it, Sides, I know one of these little pit spawns did it!"

He was right. It was Starscream's idea, in the first place, and Frenzy and Rumble thought it would be most fun to join in.

All the said little ones still stood innocent as could be until Sunstreaker turned his head and they couldn't hold back their laughter. Sunstreaker turned quickly, glaring at them, and they swore he was going to rip them apart. What were they laughing at, besides the obvious?

"Did Sunny get his paint all messed up?" Sideswipe mocked his brother as he laughed out loud, but keeping silent to the 2 behind Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker didn't even take his eyes off the three in front of him, debating on how many different ways he was going to torture each one. Sideswipe nodded quietly to ones who were hovering over Sunstreaker's head, and suddenly Sunstreaker felt bangs against the top of his head. One bomb was a greenish color in substance as it hit and it smelled wicked. Sunstreaker's ole factory sensors told him it smelled of sulfur, but it didn't look like sulfur, and sulfur didn't crack when it hit, nor did it break open like _that_.

Sunstreaker's optic twitched darkly. He wasn't just mad, oh no, he was beyond infuriated. The three who were standing in front of him were now giggling madly at him as they watched him with the shock on his face. It was priceless. Sunstreaker had all he could take and just then he snarled and lunged at the three in front of him, choosing to ignore the two who left as soon as they had done their dirty deed, rules be damned.

Starscream let out a loud chatter, in which the other two seekers heard distinctly as 'RUN!'. Frenzy and Rumble both looked at each other and bolted as Starscream yelled that sound. Everyone heard the clattering of small feet and the cackling they all did as they ran down the corridor, and they all shook their heads when they heard louder footsteps and sliding of the one they pranked. All of them were curious however, why he was chasing them and yelling profanities and Optimus stuck his head out of the door to first pick up the rancid smell that followed Sunstreaker. The humans smelt him coming before he even got there and all of them bolted from him yelling something about how badly he stunk and to take a bath. Well, this didn't go over the poor twin's demeanor any better and he promised to catch the pit spawned hellions.

Starscream had bolted into Optimus' office first, winging it around the door threshold with dead accuracy and he unfolded and landed on Optimus' shoulder, leaning out the corridor to see Sunstreaker still chasing Rumble and Frenzy. After that, he figured that Rumble and Frenzy both darted for Soundwave, and he leapt from Optimus' shoulder, transforming and he flew after them to see for himself, still grinning. As he rounded the next corridor, he was abruptly stopped by force enough to knock him out of the air, stumbling backwards; he started chattering in his tongue at whoever knocked him out of the air like that. As he recovered himself, he felt the touch of someone grab him and tighten down on him, one hand over each wing, his arms and legs dangling freely, "Gotcha, you little monster!" Sunstreaker grinned widely as he held his prize.

_Meep_? Starscream kicked his legs like crazy and squirmed in Sunstreaker's hold, "Oh no, you are all mine, Seeker!" Sunstreaker carried his prized possession away, down the corridor he once came from, headed for the human's kitchen. He knew what to do with this one. He looked up online a few different sticky substances that could be found in a human kitchen.

Starscream found that struggling against the yellow twin's grasp was futile and he stopped. Sunstreaker, afraid he had killed him lifted him and turned him in his hand, but much to his dismay, there hung Starscream. His arms folded heavily over his chest and he was glaring. What a pitiful glare, "It won't save you," Sunstreaker threatened, "If it was war you guys wanted, it is war you are going to get." He looked through each of the cupboards before finally reaching in with his large fingers and plucking something that read syrup. Starscream watched the stuff for a few seconds. He had no idea what it was, but he had a feeling by the malicious look in Sunstreaker's optic that it wasn't good. They would rue the day they messed with him like that. Starscream looked up at the bottle, then at Sunstreaker as he started to make a sound. Sunstreaker watched him a moment, then as he started to get louder and louder, he pinched the bottle, letting it all fall all over the little seeker's body, and he dropped him as he was screaming, making a beeline for the exit of the building, where he found Mikaela, Sam and William. They were all giving him disgusted looks and holding their noses, "Sunstreaker, get a bath!"

Sam waved his hand in front of his face, "Get away, man, you stink!" Sunstreaker gave Sam a glare, plotting his demise for another time as he heard the snickering of 2 small unmistakable metal critters. Sunstreaker moved Sam, using his hand to reveal Frenzy and Rumble, who about leapt before realizing they were found and running as fast as their little legs could carry them. Sunstreaker, never minding the putrid smell that he wreaked of chased after the two.

Optimus, Thundercracker and Skywarp had appeared in the human's kitchen when they heard Starscream –well – scream, "At least we know how he got his name, Primus," Thundercracker covered his audios as he entered the human's kitchen. He was looking up at them, sitting down, his legs sprawled out in front of him at odd angles and he was oozing something. Thundercracker started chuckling, yet tried to hide his smirk, but it didn't go over well, he muttered something, and Starscream beeped at him furiously, growling and then went to stand, only to fall on his aft again. He folded his arms and looked up at the three. Skywarp smirked at the growl, he couldn't help himself. And it was a smirk over a smirk if you considered his already twisted face from hearing what Starscream told them.

"How did you manage to get maple syrup all over you?" Thundercracker asked with a chuckle as he reached down for little Starscream. Starscream struggled in the slipper and sticky substance to reach for Thundercracker. He grabbed his finger and went to pull but again, he slipped and fell. Optimus reached out with both hands and cupped them under the sparkling gently. Starscream beeped again and then looked to his caretaker, "You will need some cleaning up," he said gently with that hum. Starscream instantly went to climb towards Optimus chest, but he quickly held his hand out, the sparkling being held by his scruff, "Oh no you don't, not till you are clean,"

Starscream growled as he hung there, looking to his caretaker with a bit of disgust and disagreement as he was lifted higher and Optimus turned with him, headed for somewhere to clean him off. Bot hof the seekers stopped their laughing after they spoke to Starscream as he was carried, "Sunstreaker, huh? What did you guys do to him?"

A series of clicks and beeps and trills came from Starscream as he spoke to them, "We kinda got a little tiny bit carried away," Starscream admitted.

"We?" Skywarp asked, slightly confused.

"Me, Frenzy, Rumble, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak," Starscream said proudly in beeps and trills.

Skywarp and Thundercracker about buckled on their legs from laughter as Starscream disappeared with his creator down the corridor, Thundercracker called to Starscream, "What did you do to him?"

There was no answer from the sparkling, but the seekers heard the giggle fits as they echoed back to them.

Skywarp and Thundercracker headed back towards the exit when they heard more giggle fits and Sunstreaker yelling profanities at the giggles, "I'm gonna tear you all apart!" he yelled.

Uh oh. The seekers stopped short when they first got a glimpse of Sunstreaker. He was definitely pink. They both grinned as they looked at him, then they smelt him, both of them seizing a few seconds at the awful smell their wings told them, "Sunstreaker, you need a bath!"

Ok, so the seekers weren't searching for the twin's rage, but they got it as he quickly looked up at the two who spoke. Sunstreaker glared darkly at them. They were right. Everyone was right. He did stink. He also needed to get his paint fixed.

"Come on, Sunny, let's get you cleaned up, eh?" Sideswipe said with a chuckle as he approached his enraged brother. Sunstreaker sighed as his dignity dropped to a whole new level of horrible and he went with his brother.


	4. In Vitro

**_A/N: Don't own Transformers. _**

_Thank you all for the awesome reviews :D_

_This was a little difficult to write, but I think, with Blood Shifter's help, we got it down so it looks good. Hope you all like._

* * *

Starscream was easily taken care of. Optimus often wondered if the sparkling would remember anything from his Decepticon days, but he didn't press the issue in his own mind. He took grand care of the sparkling, watching him as he grew, watching his curiosities, which oftentimes lead to trouble, like now. He watched as Starscream had taken a particular interest in the humans – One in particular – after a conversation with the other two seekers.

"Sam, don't look now, but you have company," Will said as his eyes peered behind the teen. Sam knew it already, as he heard the small footsteps as he approached him. William was smirking at the fact that Sam still flinched from Starscream, so it was all the better to warn him that he was going to have his space invaded by said Seeker, "Again?" he dropped the ball he was throwing in the air and turned slowly, seeing small red optics locked right onto his. Starscream was staring at him intently. This was unnerving to Sam, as he didn't like being stared at and he only wondered what as going through that small robotic brain of his. The sparkling watched him as he moved, taking in everything about him, as if it was the first time he had seen a human. _Chirp_?

Sam tried his best to fend off the small seeker, but the more he tried to get him to go away, the more curious Starscream got. This was included but not limited to the sheer annoyance of having someone over your shoulder all the time.

Poke.

"Screamer, come on!" Sam said, using the nickname he had been dubbed because of his really high pitched attention getter. Sam was flustered, he pushed the small seeker away from him lightly, but Starscream stood his ground and gave a defiant growl, which earned him a small smirk from Sam, who found the growls to be more like a puppy trying to scare a Doberman.

Poke. _Silly human_.

Sam looked to Mikaela and Will for help, saying nothing, but his eyes begged to be helped. Mikaela giggled and Will started to laugh at Sam's expense, especially when Starscream poked him again. Sam yanked his arm from the offending poker and glared at him, "Back off, man!" he pushed Starscream's poking claw away hard.

_Why is he poking me like this? Do I look like meat to him?_ "Stop poking me already!"

Starscream muttered something in his own tongue and stepped closer to Sam, as if challenging him. In a way, he was having fun with learning about humans, and Sam was perfect, or so he thought. He couldn't speak English to him, but he wanted to learn body language from him. It would make things easier in talking, that was for sure.

Poke.

Starscream grinned when he saw Sam go to get up and he suddenly grabbed him by the arm. Sam went to yank away, but Starscream held firm, holding Sam in a way he could look right into his eyes. Chirp? Sam reeled back from the seeker and went to pull away a second time, but Starscream wasn't releasing him, "Come on, guys, help me out here! He's got me!"

"We can clearly see that, Sam," Will chuckled.

Poke.

"Get off me you little monster!" Sam spoke louder, this time getting unwanted attention. It was Ratchet who heard him, and he moseyed his way down the corridor and stopped when he saw what was going on. A smile crossed his face, "I think he likes you, Sam," Ratchet folded his arms watching, especially to make sure neither hurt the other.

"I don't care! What is he gonna do to me?"

Poke. Sam growled.

"He's curious," Ratchet's voice was evasive, and it belied the fact that he looked like he wasn't amused. Clearly he was.

"You know what happens when aliens get curious about humans, Ratch?" Sam piped up as he watched Starscream grab a lock of hair and examine it. He released all but one hair and yanked the hair free, "They do experiments on them,"

"Oh? Where did you hear this?"

"Alien abductions, you know? Don't you ever look on the internet about human cultures?"

"Why, yes," He paused to smirk at Starscream as he got right in Sam's face, a small beam coming from one of his own optics as he examined Sam further, "What is he doing?" Sam whispered, afraid to move.

"He is a naturally curious Seeker, and it's no wonder why he became one of Cybertron's greatest scientists."

"He's not going to probe me or anything, is he?"

"It appears as though he may be going onto science again," Ratchet watched the sparkling as he poked Sam again, this time drawing a minuscule amount of blood.

"Ow! Stop it!" Sam jerked his arm away and batted at Starscream's head. Starscream on the other hand was totally engrossed in the blood on the tip of his claw. He touched the blood curiously, muttered something and lifted his claw to examine it further. Sam seemed a little freaked out about Starscream examining his blood, and glared at the CMO, "Get him away from me, Ratchet, he's gonna probe me or something, I can feel it!"

Starscream continued to mutter in his trills and sines as he continued to examine Sam, then he stopped and turned quickly, seeing the seekers enter the room. He had heard them coming, and now he wanted answers. He held up the claw that had blood on it to Thundercracker who leaned down to look, "You cut him?" he asked in the tongue the sparkling used.

"Just a sample," Starscream admitted with pride.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I wasn't going to do anything with it," Starscream muttered, "He has this fluid like Energon?"

Thundercracker nodded.

"What are they saying?" Sam eyed the seekers accusingly, then looked to Ratchet who shrugged, "Ask Skywarp or Thundercracker,"

Both seekers looked to the CMO when they heard their names, the CMO just pointed to Sam.

Sam, not only being afraid of Starscream was also terrified of the seekers. He avoided them and Soundwave at all costs, knowing what they were, he figured they could be up to no good, not trusting them one bit. They all knew it, especially Soundwave. Skywarp leaned down to see Sam face to face, "You want to know why he hurt you?"

"Yes – well no – I want to know why he's so interested in me,"

"Because he likes you. You are the first human he has examined and he's also thrilled that you were so cooperative,"

"Cooperative, huh?" _Must have forgotten to tell them I didn't consent to _any_ of this!_

Skywarp nodded, "He asks that you do not fear him, he wants to be your friend,"

Sam nearly choked on his own words, "Fr-friend?" He wondered why. The seeker he remembered hated humans. He only stuck around because he had nowhere else to go. He also remembered how he was without friends. How alone he really was.

"He wishes to learn human body language so he can better communicate with you all," Skywarp stood erect as he looked to all of the humans, "He will grow much differently having so much contact with humans, you should all give him a chance to try to learn," It was almost add hearing Skywarp talk like that. He usually wasn't one to sound all morale like but he was sincere.

"Why me, though? There's like Mikaela and Will, even other humans," Sam grumbled.

"Ask him," Skywarp moved behind Thundercracker and headed out with those words. Sam could have kicked Skywarp's foot. _I can't ask him, you dolt!_

Well that was less than helpful. _So little Starscream wants to learn human body language, huh?_

Starscream watched Skywarp leave and his attention went fully to Sam again.

This time he was going to get through to the thick headed teen if it was the last thing he did, and decided to hit a whole new octave of annoying. He ended up doing something far more irritating than poking him. He copied his every move. Everyone knows there is nothing more annoying. At first it was simple. A tap of the chin, then a furrow of the brow. Then he started following him _everywhere_, mimicking his every move. It went on for hours sometimes, and it was driving Sam mad.

"Listen Starscream, I know you want to learn, but following me and copying me won't get you in my favor or teach you anything." Sam wasn't sure if the small seeker understood him, but decided to take a walk, and he knew that Starscream would follow him. He started talking as they walked. Starscream regarded him curiously as he spoke, "You can go around following people, Screamer, it's annoying,"

Starscream muttered something with a few chirps and clicks as he listened intently, "I don't know how you can show interest in what someone is doing, but if you are gonna annoy me like this, you might as well go hide in Prime's chest again," Starscream sulked a little. He didn't like being turned away. He snorted and gave Sam a deep look, hoping the boy would understand.

Poke.

"Poking me won't work either," Sam found a large boulder and perched on top of it. Starscream walked up on another, balancing himself perfectly, he looked almost like a bird standing there than any robot, "Why do you want to be _my_ friend anyways?" Sam asked and Starscream smiled at him, but only replied with warbles and trills.

"Listen, it's like this," he tried to reason with the seeker as much as possible, "If there was some way you could ask, it would help."

_Chirp_? That was easy enough.

"Yeah, like that," Sam nodded as he looked at Starscream, "I wish you could speak English," he exhaled hard and gave Starscream a side glance, realizing the little bugger was staring again, "And would you quit staring at me!"

Starscream gave a trilled twitter and growled, making Sam lightly chuckle, "you know, you are rather cute when you do that."

_Cute huh? I will show you cute!_ Starscream leaned over and poked him hard, his gaze fell right into Sam's, he twittered loudly, chirping with beeps and buzzes. Sam couldn't understand him, he knew, but he wanted to make sure that Sam understood that he meant business. He took a hold of Sam's arm and leapt down from the rock, pulling Sam along. Of course, Sam balked at the idea and went to pull himself free from the sparkling's grasp, but to no avail. Each time he tried, Starscream either tightened his grip or stared him down, muttering something.

Mikaela and Will watched the two sitting on the rocks. They both smirked as they watched their interactions. Starscream would poke or make a noise and Sam would come out with some flustered words and even flipped him the bird, which was a rather big mistake. Starscream copied him. Chirp? Starscream tilted his head with the same vulgar birdie and looked to Sam for an answer.

"You don't – You don't do that, Screamer! Put your hand down!" Sam reached for his clawed hand and put it down, and Starscream grinned. _Oh, so that's what this means, does it? _Kinda like Thundercracker and Ratchet's constant use of Frag or Slag. Hehe.

He used said claw and poked Sam with it before twittering and a few beeps and chirps came from him. He was laughing. Sam didn't realize it at first, and then he listened, and joined the sparkling in his small laugh, "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"


	5. A Snake in the Grass

**_A/N: I don't own Transformers._**

_Sorry this took so long, been busy and was offline for about a week or so. This one took a bit to write._ _Also I didn't send to beta, so if there are mistakes, lemme know._

* * *

Days turned into months and Starscream was growing quickly. He would, for lack of a better word, molt, leaving behind a shell and coming out pristine as could be, not a mark on him. Optimus watched as he grew, as he interacted and as he became more and more independent, deciding it was time to find a suitable alternate mode, since he was no nearly as tall as Thundercracker and Skywarp. He was also fluent in English, having been taught by the humans and by the Cybertronians. He had no cockpit, and was determined to find a mode that had one. The base that they were on had a few jets stationed, it is here where the other Decepticons found their alt mode, as did Starscream, picking the very one he had before. An F-22 Raptor. When he took the alt mode, he slowly moved down the runway. He had been flying only around the base as not to be detected by humans but now, he could really fly, and he wanted to show Sam why he loved to fly.

Will was hanging with Ironhide when the turbines of the jet rounded the corner of the main building and everyone inhaled sharply as they saw what form he had chosen. He started to transform, his body shifting slowly to fit into their new respective places, sliding and slightly grinding for the first time. It took a few seconds for his body to complete the transformation, and there he stood, in his previous glory. It was like déjà vu all over again when William turned and his jaw nearly dropped, "What?" He asked as he made his way into the building, looking over to Optimus and Ironhide, who got a sudden feeling of nostalgia. The Starscream they saw deranged years before. The one they watched falter right in front of them, and now he stood, proud as could be. They were all silent a long moment, "Interesting alternative mode you have chosen, Starscream," Optimus pointed out.

"I do like it, it's very aerodynamic and besides the F-35, one of the fastest jets," Starscream smiled as he looked around for Sam. How badly he wanted to take him for a ride, "Anyone know where Sam is?"

"He's out with Mikaela and Bee, they'll be back later,"

"Ah, oh, ok." He looked to the sky as he turned, Thundercracker and Skywarp moving next to him, "Wanna fly?" he asked them.

"Like you have to ask, Screamer," Thundercracker's deep voice came.

Starscream smiled, "Let's go!" he hadn't even made his way from the building before his body transformed and his boosters hit full. He was airborne, going up high, spinning and making his way well into the clouds. Thundercracker and Skywarp were almost having a hard time keeping up with the young seeker, but they stayed with him, one to protect him, the other to remember their flights.

Starscream continued to fly. He had never felt so free in his life, playing in the clouds, moving with the jet streams that flowed through the air at such high altitudes, "Just like I remember," Skywarp commented.

"Shush, 'Warp," Thundercracker chided, knowing well that Starscream had no idea what he was talking about. Starscream heard them talking, but was far too engrossed in his flight to hear or even care. The only thing on his mind was the feeling over the wind over his wings and the speed of his freedom. He never wanted to land again, "Come on you two!" he called to the other seekers who were well behind him, and he slowed down, "You're slow!"

"Slow, Screamer?" Skywarp smirked, "I will show you _slow_," The jet engaged his secondary boosters and caught up with Starscream then flew past him, Thundercracker behind him then coming up to the right of Starscream and Skywarp settled beside his left, leaving Starscream a nose and a half in front of them as they plowed the skies together. This is how they remembered it. They remembered their 

flights with their leader. They couldn't resist lying in their respective places besides their wing mate, it was how they wanted it to be. And there was no one out there who would bother them. Starscream felt in place where the two seekers had come to, and he led them on, turning and rolling with the wind, through the clouds and then dived, coming well over the limits of what they should but pulled back up before they hit.

Optimus and Ratchet and Ironhide made their ways out the building, looking up to see the three flying in such a formation, "Even now, they still prefer him to lead," Optimus said, watching them streak across the sky. Others joined them to watch the aerial stunt show the three were performing. They were flying with unfaultable turns and spins, "Isn't that the way it has always been, Optimus?" Wheeljack asked as he walked out, hearing his leader's words.

"He was sparked to lead, it is no wonder that he tried so many times to overthrow Megatron," Optimus replied, his voice almost nulled by the sound of the jet engines that went over them then vanished again.

"Perhaps so, but he is still young yet and has a lot to learn before he can ever be a leader, Optimus,"

Optimus looked down at the one who spoke, being Ironhide, "He has millennia to learn,"

"He will learn from the best, sir," Ironhide gazed at the sky again, smiling.

The trine of jets finally decided to come back, all transforming and sliding to a stop on the runway, digging up gravel as they did. Thundercracker and Skywarp still stayed beside Starscream as they all approached Optimus, "How was your flight?" the leader asked, watching them as they talked between themselves, still often using only the language they all preferred when alone.

"It was great!" Starscream said with great enthusiasm.

"Seeker leader needed. Starscream recommended." Soundwave spoke as he stood near the open door, looking out.

All three of the seekers looked to Soundwave, who went back to doing whatever he was doing without a another word. He was right, however. The seekers always needed a leader. The best of them all. The one who could protect each other's backs in combat and the one who could always lead them right and just. Thundercracker and Skywarp both looked at each other before nodding then looked back at Starscream, "We nominate Screamer!"

Starscream gave them a pitiful dumb look, "Me? Why me?"

Neither wanted to admit he had been their leader before, hoping to avoid the possibility of bringing back memories. They liked him this way. He wasn't mean to them and he respected them as much as they had grown to respect him, "Because you're the fastest, Screamer," Thundercracker supplied gently.

"I'm not nearly as old as you guys are," Starscream tried to contradict.

"That doesn't matter, you have what the seekers need. Who knows who all is still on Cybertron, and any that may someday arrive will need a lead seeker to look up to," Skywarp responded as he moved himself to a kneeling position, looking up to Starscream, who he considered almost as regal as Optimus.

"Bu – but I am not nearly as qualified,"

"Screamer, you have the leader of the Autobots to teach you everything, and leadership comes naturally to you. Remember what we did up there? You lead us the entire way,"

"You just hung back,"

"No Screamer, we were following you. We respect you."

Starscream wasn't sure about this new idea and thought hard about it as he looked to the other seekers and to Optimus who was smiling at him, "I will try," he finally said.

"Very well, Starscream," Optimus agreed, nodding, "you will be the leader of all seekers," he paused watching Starscream process all of the information, "I will gladly teach you all you wish to know, and I am sure your trine will be more than glad to help. They helped raise you, you are like a son to them,"

Both Thundercracker and Skywarp beamed as Optimus admitted that, looking to each other then to Optimus, "We will train him well," they both said in unison.

Wheeljack and Ironhide stood and watched as Starscream was given his new duty. Both seemed slightly skeptical, but did not argue. They only hoped his memory would not return to him, that he wouldn't remember how mean of a seeker he used to be, or try to overthrow Optimus himself.

Starscream suddenly leapt and took off for the sky, leaving the other two seekers standing there. He needed time to think. This was all so new to him and he wasn't sure if he could actually do it, but something in him told him that this was his destiny. This was his sparkright. This was him. Both Thundercracker and Skywarp watched him, feeling his need to fly alone for a small bit, plus both wanted to rest a little. That flight had taken a little out of them, "You think he will be alright?"

"Of course he will, 'Warp, he was our leader before, he will be again. This time he will be raised correctly and not through fear and hatred, but gentleness. Hopefully he will keep those qualities,"

_My grubby halo, a vapor trail in the empty air…_

Starscream disappeared into the clouds, his boosters on full. For the first time since he had come back online, he felt the wind over his wings in a way he could not explain. As if something was growing in him.

_Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies…_

In the air was the freedom that all seekers desired. Free from gravity as he went higher and higher, his altimeter telling him that he was about 45,000 feet from the ground and climbing. He wanted to see just how high he could go and his nose went up as the stars came into view clearer and clearer.

_Across the clouds I see my shadow fly…_

He watched as the earth started to get brighter under him and the light of the sun beat on his body. The feeling of space was something completely new to him as he flew, he made his way to the outside of the atmosphere and found himself feeling light as a feather as he moved in the vacuum of space quietly. There he experienced the sensations of something totally new. Not only the weightlessness, but the freedom of open space. He knew he couldn't remain up here, but the time he could spend alone was worth the extra energy as he thought. He could do this. He could lead the Seekers. He could teach them as he was taught.

_Above the planet on a wing and a prayer…_

What he hadn't expected was the beam of energy that flew at him from one of the supposed cannons that were on earth. He had no idea about them, so therefore never gave a second thought that going into space would be so dangerous as he came around, passing the International Space Station and a Space Shuttle with people staring stupidly out at the F-22 that whizzed by them.

"Did you guys just _see_ that?" The captain of the shuttled asked, thumbing to the small window. His crew members nodded, still staring at the window, "That was a jet, wasn't it?" Again they nodded. Quickly, without thinking, the captain hit the radio, "Unidentified aircraft, please indentify yourself."

No answer. They didn't know the jet was an Autobot, considered off limits to shooting.

"Unidentified Aircraft, please indentify yourself immediately, or be fired upon!" The Captain pressed on, feeling that this could be one of those 'Decepticons' they had heard about, after no response the second time, he signaled earth that there was an unidentified flier outside in orbit that had gone by them. Earth then took things into their own hands.

_Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything…_

That is when they saw the orange flare fly from the planet and it beamed right at Starscream, catching his left wing and causing him to tumble. Being only in Earth's orbit where satellites circled, he was close enough to get pulled back to the planet. He had been knocked out by the hit, the shock to his young systems too much for him to bare and he started falling back to Earth, and hard. His body was bright red and the heat from re-entry startled his systems as he sent an SOS to Optimus.

"Starscream!" Optimus suddenly cried out in panic, looking to the sky, he then looked to Skywarp and Thundercracker, "You two, go get him! He's been shot!" Both of them feared for the young seeker, and headed to his location as soon as they did, breaking the normal jet speed by going about mach 9, it was depleting their energy fast, but he was worth it.

Starscream was coming in hard and fast. He tried to control his decent, but it was nearly impossible missing a wing, and he tumbled uncontrollably to the ground.

* * *

_Not a lot left for this story. 2 maybe 3 chapters left._


	6. Times Change and I am Changing with Them

**_A/N: Here we go again. I do not own Transformers._**

_The next installment of New Beginnings. Not sure how much more will be left. Anyways, hope you all enjoy, and thank you for all of the reviews, it helps my mood and it helps decide the story some, hehe._

_Ty Blood Shifter for taking a look at this for me!_

* * *

The White house had gotten the feed from the shuttle that was orbiting the planet at about the same time as the United States had made the worst mistake in history. It went to various persons on the congress and to the President, who was still going over them. Disbelief was clear in his eyes when he read that a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor was flying out in orbit. He was also reading about the other papers and listened to the recording that he was given. That they had warned said jet to identify himself, and when the pilot hadn't, the jet was shot down by an 'unknown source'. This had also made its way to the Secretary of Defense, who wanted to sweep this under the rug and fast. There didn't need to be anything getting out about a jet being shot from space. How had it gotten there anyways? The jets were made to fly high, sure, but not fly out of the planet. He knew this from his piloting years.

Skywarp and Thundercracker barely made their way underneath Starscream as he fell; both were using their thrusters on full to slow his fall and to not take them with him in his fall. The young bot was already transformed, apparently he had transformed before he had gone into stasis lock. Their thrusters got control of his and their descent, and it worked as they slowly started to lower to the ground, leveling out a few hundred feet from the ground, Skywarp was looking him over as they did, "TC, this doesn't look good,"

"I know, I can't imagine what had happened,"

"It looks like he was hit by one of those cannons that eradicated that Decepticon fleet,"

"Yeah it does, doesn't it?" Thundercracker looked over the wound a bit more, "Let's get him back to Optimus, he isn't going to be happy,"

"I can only imagine the entire area of Tranquility blown to pieces after this one," Skywarp sighed as they both started heading for where the base was.

"You're thinking too much about Megatron. This is Optimus we are talking about, 'Warp,"

Optimus was pacing back and forth, it was almost making the other Autobots and ex-Decepticons dizzy, and Barricade almost yelled out in frustration at the pacing, but held his tongue. They knew Optimus wasn't pleased, they could see it in his optics and if that wasn't enough, his face was contorted into a very deep scowl.

"Incoming Seekers: Designation, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Starscream," Soundwave droned out.

Frenzy and Rumble were both watching the sky for the downed Seeker, looking when Soundwave pointed. They spoke between each other quietly, whispering, hoping that their giant friend and playmate was ok.

The ground shook when the Seekers landed, both walking with Starscream in their arms, careful not to hurt him more as they rushed him into the building, even past Optimus, giving him a sorrowful look, headed for the medical bay. Ratchet was busy with working on a few things here and there when they burst through the door. He had heard that Starscream was injured, but really wasn't prepared for the sight before him. His jaw would have hit the floor if it could unhinge. Nostalgia took over him as he glanced at how beat Starscream was. It reminded him of that day… No. He cleared it from his memory, "Status," he demanded.

"He's pretty banged up, been unresponsive-" Thundercracker was cut off in mid sentence by Skywarp, "I think it was one of those cannons, he's got the same scorch marks as what had hit the other Decepticons in space,"

Ratchet's scanners immediately went to work on the body that was laid down on the berth. Immediately he found traces of the plasma that powered the beam, his face twisting into a grimace. Both of the other Seekers backed away, knowing better than to get into Ratchet's way. They knew of him being called Ratchet the Hatchet, and figured there was a damned good reason why.

"Leave," Ratchet spoke the one word, and in it they swore they felt him glaring at them. Both of them made their ways out quickly, almost tripping over Optimus who walked right past them and in, "I said – " Ratchet stopped midsentence, "Oh, it's you," he looked back to where he was working on Starscream. He hadn't noticed the saddened look on his leader's face, nor the dark scowl that came across it while he did his own examination of his Sparkling, "What is the assessment, Ratchet?" Ok, he really didn't miss the deep anger that came from his leader's voice that time.

"Well, I am still looking, but the Seekers said that it was a cannon that was used to shoot the other Decepticons before getting to Earth," Ratchet didn't look away from his work, "My scanners confirm traces of plasma," the medic was almost totally engrossed in hooking Starscream up to needed lines while he looked over his damage. Optimus didn't leave the room, only backed up while Ratchet looked to some computers, typing into them, glancing at Starscream then at the screens again, "His spark chamber is a little damaged. It's mostly all superficial, thank Primus," The medic started to explain as he worked, "He's in stasis lock because of the hit and the fall, but he should be alright,"

"How long?"

Ratchet dared to look away from his patient to look at Optimus. He knew that voice, and it was one to be feared by any Decepticon that cross the great leader's path, "Give me a few breems, Prime, I need to stable him out and bring him from stasis lock, I am still checking his processor."

Without another word, Optimus left the room. He didn't look at anyone else, or speak, only made his way to his office, where he sat down behind a rather large desk. He glared at the video phone that he knew he would be using. How to approach the new Secretary of Defense about this? This was a total breach of treaty between the Autobots and the government, and he knew the conversation wasn't going to go well. Deep down he wanted to yell at them, tell them they were wrong and to get them to shut down whatever it was that shot his sparkling from the sky. He was enraged, but needed his composure, "Secretary of Defense's office,"

"Secretary of Defense, Terry, please," Optimus spoke, trying to hide his anger as much as possible.

"May I ask who is calling, sir?"

"Optimus Prime," He deliberately didn't turn on the actual video, not right now, anyways. He had heard about these cannons before, but had chosen to ignore them. Until now. Now it had injured one of his own Autobots, his own sparkling for that matter, "Terry here," came a voice from the speaker on the video phone.

"Secretary," Optimus started. Terry hadn't ever had the joy of speaking to the Autobots. That was saved for the Autobot liaisons. He wasn't even sure why the leader was calling. He had heard his voice a time or two before, but never spoke to him, hell he never even saw him. He had heard stories about a really, really big robot, however, and the nervousness was in his voice when he answered the call.

"Y-yes, sir? What can I do for you Mr. Prime?"

"It's Optimus Prime – I want to talk to you about your cannons,"

"Cannons? What cannons?"

"The plasma cannons that one of my own had to break down in order to get more of our kind here. The kind that shot my sparkling from the sky!" He found it was getting harder to hold to his temper. It was obvious by how he was speaking.

"Y-you were responsible?" Garret Terry stopped himself quickly, "Please, calm down, Prime, I am not sure I follow,"

Well this SOD had to of been really blind or really stupid, or was just playing stupid. He snorted, "The facility that was attacked by a supposed Decepticon, I am sure you know of it Mr. Secretary,"

"Oh that place," Ok, he couldn't hide the fact he didn't know about it any longer, "You say it shot on of your Autobots from the sky?"

"No, I said it shot my sparkling –"

"Um, pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a sparkling?"

"It's like a child in your terms," Who the hell was this rookie? "but that is beside the point, I am calling you and asking you nicely to disarm these weapons. It seems they are more of a hazard than a help,"

"They shot one of your kids?" Now the Secretary was getting it, at least Optimus hoped he was, "But they are used to shoot dangers from this planet before they get here,"

"I am aware of that, the Decepticons that did survive filled me in on the massacre that happened outside of the planet,"

"Decepticons? I thought they were all eradicated?" There was no compunctions on how he said that. This unnerved the Autobot leader.

"Yes, Decepticons, ex-Decepticons, in fact, but that doesn't matter, what we do with our kind is up to us, I don't feel it is fair for humans to be shooting other beings from the sky without prior treaty talks first, especially when it comes to Cybertronians. It's not how we do things."

"We were protecting ourselves from that threat, you need to understand, after Mission City –"

Optimus cut him off at the mention of what happened many years ago, "Did it ever occur to you that some of them might have been Autobot?"

"Well no, we tracked their signature. Specifically the one we attained through Megatron and Blackout,"

"And it didn't cross your mind that some of my men were using the signatures to cover up themselves as to avoid being shot down by Decepticons?" The heated words started to make the Secretary shy from the phone. He hadn't expected this to be an angry call, for all he knew, Optimus was a timid leader. This insinuation would also confirm as to why no other Autobots made it to Earth in the first place. Some, yes, were Decepticons, but some were indeed hiding their signatures mixing with Decepticons for the exact reason as not to be detected, or be granted safe passage through to the planet, "I want that plant shut down,"

"Please, Optimus, sir, you need to understand –"

That was when the camera light came on, and then the video flicked on and there sat the leader in his seat, glaring at the video feed, the link giving Optimus a direct look at the Secretary. The Secretary tried to smile sheepishly, "We can't just shut it down,"

"You can, and you will," Optimus hissed. He was in no mood to be told no. By anyone for that matter.

"This is a direct breach of the treaty set before the US government and the Autobots, do you understand this, Optimus?"

"I do believe it was my sparkling shot from the sky, not yours," Optimus went to hit the end call button, but stopped, "Don't make us use force," he quickly hit the button. Had he just threatened the US? Yes, yes he had, and now he wasn't sure if that was such a brainy idea. There weren't a lot of them and even fewer Autobots, and he knew deep down that this could cause an out and out war. He had never in his life been so rude or so angry towards the USA, but something drove him. It was the fact his sparkling was lying in stasis lock in the Medical bay, probably.

"Optimus!" A familiar caught the leader's attention from outside the doors, "I got here as soon as I heard!" William was standing in a tank top and blue jeans as Optimus opened the doors, "Come in, Will," he waved the small man in, "it seems news travels fast," The grim expression on the leader showed William that something was indeed wrong, "Something more happen than 'an F-22 shot from orbit'?"

"I just called the SoD and told him to shut down the plasma cannons,"

"You did _what_? They'll never go for that!"

"I know, I am not sure if it was the right thing to do, but what if other Autobots _do_ want to come? Other Decepticons? I know very well that they wouldn't come to mean harm, I mean, they don't even have a leader anymore."

"It was an entire fleet of Decepticons that were shot down, you know that, Optimus, I don't think there are any left,"

"I believe that if there are more, they had backed to Mars and the Moon, perhaps the moons of Jupiter,"

"I hate to bust your bubble, Optimus, but your speculations are only that – Speculations. There hasn't been any word of any other Cybertronians coming anywhere near the orbit of Earth after that massacre."

Optimus regarded William deeply. He groaned inwardly, for he knew the human was right. He hoped that there were others out there. It was sad enough to realize that they really were the last of their kind, which was only a small handful, but to know was a whole separate ball of wax completely, "I don't want it shooting at the last sparkling we will ever have," Optimus looked down, somewhat ashamed of how he had been with the Secretary.

"I'm sure it will all blow over, big guy,"

Meanwhile, in the medical bay, Ratchet had still been working on Starscream. He was slowly bringing him back online from his hit, and had expected the youngster to flail out, but didn't expect to get hit in the process. He reached out, catching Starscream's other arm, "Starscream, calm down!"

"What? Where am I?"

"You're back at the base, Thundercracker and Skywarp retrieved you, did a good job since you didn't even hit the ground," Ratchet explained as calmly as he could, feeling Starscream relax under his grasp. As soon he was satisfied that Starscream was calmed, he let go. Starscream blinked a few seconds before realizing that he wasn't dreaming. It was Ratchet who was holding onto him, "What _was_ that?"

"What was what, young one?"

"What shot me? What were those stupid squishies _thinking_?" Starscream growled, not only angry he had been shot, but also a little scared. Ratchet did a double-take on Starscream when he heard the Seeker call the humans 'stupid squishies'. No one had ever said anything that mentioned that word. Where had he come up with it?

"Starscream, can you tell me anything that happened?"

"Well, yeah, I was flying out by a space shuttle when I received a static message. I couldn't understand it so I didn't reply, and the next thing I know, I felt this excruciating pain in my wing before I realized I had been shot." He paused. As if remembering from a dream, "I – I know those cannons. I remember seeing them before," His voice trailed off as he tried to remember more, but only came up blank.

This was news to Ratchet. How could he possibly 'remember' the cannons? He hadn't ever been shot by them, at least as far as he knew. He gave Starscream an unreadable look, "Listen, you lie here, and I am going to go and get Optimus, he will want to know how you're doing, besides, you're not nearly ready to get up yet," Ratchet pointed a finger at Starscream's nose, who sank back on the berth and nodded. He did want to see Optimus. He wanted to tell him all that happened. He felt the link between him and his creator and silently slid tendrils of hope through them, and in the answer he got was definitely his creator and he smiled to himself as he relaxed on the berth.

* * *

_I know Optimus was a little OOC, but wouldn't you be if someone shot your kid? Let's see how that goes._


	7. Which was to be Done

**A/N: Yes, I own them! Hasbro loves me! NOT. Oh well.**

_This is a great turning point in the story. Things are going to kinda go downhill from here, sorry, but shit happens, and the shit is happening to Starscream.  
_

* * *

Starscream had spent nearly an entire day by himself outside. When someone had approached him, he would tell them he didn't want bothered. His optics stared at the sky. He couldn't figure out for the life of him how all of that cannon stuff was so familiar, or why. It bothered him deeply. Was there something the Autobots were hiding from him? No, it couldn't be. He remembered being sparked. He remembered being a sparkling. He groaned as he stared at the setting sun. He had heard the approach of footsteps, and turned to tell them to go away, only to find Optimus standing there. He instantly calmed, and laxed his shoulders. Optimus moved up closer to him, he sat down with him, looking up at the sky as well, "What is bothering you, Starscream?" He asked, not looking from the sky.

"I don't know," Starscream replied, also not looking away. Sunsets were such beautiful things to watch. It was among one of Starscream's favorite parts of the day, and so were sunrises, but he rarely got to see them.

"I can tell it has something to do with you being injured," Optimus turned his head to look at Starscream, who pulled his optics from the sky to glance at his creator, and he nodded, "It doesn't make any sense," Starscream started, trying to find the best way to explain how he was feeling, "being shot by those cannons, I remember it from before, but there wasn't any before that I can remember." His deep red optics went back to the sky, "It's confusing," he closed his optics a moment as if trying to remember. One name came to him, and he had no idea where it had come from.

_Megatron._ His optics flashed open and his systems heated up at the thought. Not of a friendly heat, but one of anger. Anguish. Pain. Suffering.

He had heard this name before, and before he even really knew who Megatron was he hated him. It was a deep hate, one that he could not relate with anything else. It was that strong, that defiant, that… evil. He closed his optics again. His head tilted down as he thought.

_The army Megatron left behind._ Well that was impossible, right? The Decepticons were now neutral. Soundwave and his symbiots, Barricade, Thundercracker and Skywarp were the only ones left. They had announced their defection to Optimus, to them all. He would have to ask Skywarp and Thundercracker about these thoughts. He didn't know where they came from, or why they were. He would approach Optimus about it, and perhaps through all his wisdom, he could help, but fear of being thought less of, he reconsidered it. He glanced back up at the sky. Something wasn't right.

Optimus was now at a real stalemate. He had spoken to Ratchet earlier about what had been said in the repair bay, but he still couldn't believe his audio receptors. How was it possible that Starscream was getting any memory back? It was impossible. The re-spark of one was something nearly unheard of itself, and the fact of one regaining from a previous memory was even more unheard of. Optimus had to figure out a way to explain to Starscream. It would not be an easy task, but even he deserved the truth. But would it be the right thing to do? To tell him he was an Air Commander for the Decepticons? To tell him what hell he had befallen when he had been shot before? What if this was the only memory he would regain? The rest too much trauma for him to recall. Perhaps, but unlikely. Optimus could almost feel it wanting to bubble up inside the processor of the young Seeker.

"Is there any way for Ratchet to go into my memory banks and find this missing part of my life?" Starscream suddenly asked.

"It's not advised, Starscream," Optimus answered more quickly than Starscream thought he should have. As if he were expecting this question. Maybe he was thinking it himself.

"I know that. But is it possible?"

Optimus looked back towards the sky as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. He wasn't sure, himself, if it was at all possible, or how Starscream was remembering from a past life. It was bad enough that he was referring to the humans as squishies, which wasn't in any vocabulary the Autobots used. He would talk to Ratchet first, "Starscream, what all do you remember?"

Starscream looked to his creator and gave a sigh, "I am not sure, Optimus. I remember being shot at, and being hit and that's the last thing I remember from this previous hit, is it a vision?"

"I don't recall Autobots getting visions, Starscream," Optimus answered truthfully, "can you explain to me why you called the humans what you did?"

"What do you mean?" the Seeker asked, as he folded his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms about them.

"I mean when you came to," Optimus peered at the Seeker, "You called them… _squishes_,"

"I was mad, it was the first thing I could think of to call them," Starscream looked down, apparently feeling sorry for saying such a thing.

/Optimus, you have a phone call/ came Ironhide's voice. Optimus went to stand, "I will have a talk with Ratchet about your question regarding the memory search," He moved from the Seeker, turning to look at him once more as he walked back to the main building where the phone call was being held. He connected with the caller, "Optimus," he said.

"Yes, Optimus, this is the Secretary of Defense. I wanted to advise you that I have talked with the others about your request, and it would be too much of a liability if we were to shut down those cannons, I'm sorry," there was an apparent nervous tone in the SoD's voice. Optimus rumbled loud enough for it to be heard through the phone. His optics went to the Seeker sitting outside and he felt the youngling's pain. He knew something was going on with him, but he could not tell what. Perhaps it was best to see if Ratchet could check his memory banks.

"We will discuss this later, I have something more important to do at the moment, Prime out," Optimus looked around getting raised optic ridges from others around him as he disconnected the line. He looked around to see Ratchet standing not far off, /Ratchet we need to talk/

Ratchet outwardly nodded and headed for his med bay with Optimus on his tail. When they got into the room, he briskly shut the door, "I know something is up, Optimus, I can see it,"

"Can you check into Starscream's memory banks? See what you can find in there? I fear he is somehow getting his memory back,"

"That's impossible. He was re-sparked. A whole new slate, what you are considering is not possible."

"I thought so too, but something has him bothered. He seems almost afraid. I want you to check him, if you would, old friend,"

"Of course, Optimus, get him in here for me," Ratchet turned to his computers and activated him, "but I warn you, if he is by some strange occurrence getting his memory back, I believe this will only stimulate them more," the Medic never looked away from his computers. Optimus nodded silently and called for 

Starscream through their created link, and the youngling hopped up from his perch and headed for the med bay. When he arrived, he found his creator and Ratchet standing there, "You needed me?"

"Yes, Starscream," Optimus sighed, he really didn't want to do this, especially if it would bring more memories back, "I spoke with Ratchet about your request, and he approves,"

"Starscream, lay down on the berth and don't move. When I connect you, you may feel strange sensations in your processor."

"Will it hurt?"

"It shouldn't, no, but it will feel strange. Anything that you see will be recorded on this machine."

Starscream gave a glance at the machine. He read the words on it slowly, as if dreaming.

**Ready to Proceed.**

**Connect CPU to Central neural memory station.**

Starscream shuddered, but moved forward to the machine, lying down as told to, he watched around him. Optimus could feel the fear in his spark and tried sending warming and gentle pulses to his youngling, which seemed to work a little, but not much.

Ratchet reached for the necessary cables, "Open your chest plate, Starscream," he instructed. After a few moments, the chest plate on the young Seeker opened to reveal the spark chamber, glowing brightly, healthy. Ratchet reached in and looked back u pto the computer as if waitingfor it to instruct him.

**CPU connected.**

**Ready for Spark chamber connection.**

"This is where it might feel a little strange," Ratchet informed the Seeker as he connected the Spark chamber to the computer. Ratchet was right! It was a strange sensation! It felt as if his whole body went weak and strong at the same moment. Flutters of electricity bolted through him.

**Spark Chamber successfully connected.**

**Ready for Stasis Lock.**

Ratchet pressed a button on the machine and Starscream felt himself getting tired. Very tired, "Wh- what's happening?"

"It's just putting you into stasis," Ratchet informed, professionally.

**Stasis Lock initiated.**

**Stasis Lock Completed, starting memory reactor.**

Optimus and Ratchet watched the main screen as it came to life. It started with views of when Starscream was a sparkling, going through various things he had done, including meeting up with the Ex-Decepticons to when he would get in trouble and put the blame on Frenzy or even on Sideswipe. As 

they watched the memories, they laughed, and then suddenly everything went black on the screen, and the first thing that came up made both Optimus and Ratchet gasp in fear.

Little did they know Starscream himself was going through the memories as they were extracted and reformatted to be read on the computer. It was like a nightmare, one he could not escape. They at first didn't notice how he twitched as he lie there helpless on the Berth.

* * *

_Next Chapter: So what is being seen? Guess you will have to wait and find out. _

_This story isn't going to last much longer, so prepare for an ending soon. Not sure when._


	8. Know Thyself

**A/N: I Don't own it. Why I have to keep putting this here? I will never fully understand. Once should suffice.**

_The next chapter in this story. Hope you all enjoy, and thank you all for your lovely reviews!_ _I know it reflects a lot on Learning to Fly, but that's the point of a memory extraction, right? Also, another surprise in here. Don't know if it has been used before, as I was not about to read through ALL of the stories to find it, so if I stepped on someone else's toes, sorry.  
_

* * *

As the scenes played out before them on the screen, they were both struck in silence as they watched. It was his memory as he was trying to leave the atmosphere the first time

_Into the distance, a ribbon of black  
Stretched to the point of no turning back_

It ran a few words across the screen, showing that it was automatically recording as Starscream had seen something coming at him at great speeds. It was the cannon fire! IT also showed when he was being pulled back into the atmosphere, and how dangerous the incoming had been. It showed him unfolding and the temperatures and damage readings were coming up on the screen as they recorded.

Starscream relived the memories as if he was living them again. He felt every emotion, every shut down and every reboot in his own systems, even though they were more simulated than real.

It also showed the time that had gone by as the Seeker was out cold from the crash, and all of the damage he had taken on. They could hardly believe their optics as they watched his HUD reading to him everything that had gone erroneous and defective. Watching this was like living it themselves and they both cringed as they watched Starscream's HUD displays. It showed him shutting down again, this time, it recorded 4 cycles that he had been out, and when he woke again to check his HUD.

**Flight Control System Malfunctioning – Not Responding.**

**Flight Control Pattern – Offline.**

**Irreparable Damage to Core Flight Processor – Malfunctioning, Unable to Repair.**

No one noticed how Starscream's facial features strained against themselves as he was dealing with the memories. Ratchet reached over and paused the replay. He turned and looked at Optimus who seemed saddened beyond belief, "We don't' have to continue this if you don't wish to," He said sullenly.

Optimus thought about it a moment. Would it be best to let it play, and see what Exactly Starscream had been through? Would it traumatize the young mech? "What is your suggestion, Ratchet?"

"I suggest we continue it, not for morbid curiosity, but maybe learn how he managed to keep all his memory of that time,"

Optimus nodded, "Very well, then."

Little did either know there were 4 optics watching also. They belonged to the other two Seekers, who seemed so crestfallen by what they were watching. Had Starscream really suffered the 'Crash and burn'? They didn't hear what was being said, but paid close attention to the screen as Ratchet continued the memory. The two Seekers gasped at seeing the words filter over the monitor. Lucky for them, they hadn't been heard, yet.

It showed how Starscream was completely unable to fly, even though they could not play his actual emotions, they could tell in their sparks how hard this was on Starscream. Then they watched as Starscream tried to rip out his own spark, and in response his automatic systems took over. They watched as the red words filtered over the screen. Starscream went stiff, then relaxed as the shut down played over the screen. Still no one really noticed his movements.

**Automatic System Override – Shutdown Imminent – Processor Unstable!**

**Time in Stasis Lock – 10 minutes. **

**System Reboot initialized.**

_A fatal attraction is holding me fast,  
How can I escape this irresistible grasp? _

Starscream jerked quickly, his arm going out a moment before going lax, and everyone saw the movement, "Do you think he's seeing this too?"

"I am not so sure, it could be just reactions to the actual memories," Ratchet supplied. He really wasn't for sure, he hadn't gone through this before. They watched as the sky came into view, and his long it was there. He was apparently staring at the sky for some time. They all wondered what he was thinking then.

_Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies  
Tongue-tied and twisted Just an earth-bound misfit, I_

The seekers watching were at a loss as to what to think as the memories continued to reply for all who watched. They also watched Starscream twitch. This gave them a new feeling for the young seeker. He had been through all of that, yet he survived? Wait. He was a sparkling. How were they viewing his past life? They both watched with piqued interest.

The memories switched to him walking to a clearing and finding an Autobot at a gas station, who alerted him to his presence. They saw as Starscream made no move to escape but to run. They both realized that he couldn't fly. This had to be one of the worst things that could ever happen to a seeker. They were built to fly. They watched as the warning of an imminent shutdown came again. What had he done to initiate this? It was the pain that showed up in the far corner of the HUD, they assumed.  
_  
Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything  
No navigator to find my way home  
Unladen, empty and turned to stone_

**Automatic System Override – System Shutdown Imminent – Processor Unstable!**

It came over the screen again. This time the time given was 4 minutes and 46 seconds before his systems rebooted. They also watched as he confronted the Autobots, and how they intended to take them to their base. They weren't mean to him at all, that is if you count out the trigger happy Ironhide. They continued to watch in curiosity as Starscream was now at the Autobot base, and no one bothered him. It was quite interesting. They had actually expected the Autobots to interrogate him and attack him, but none came. The Autobots were apparently not as mean as Megatron had made them out to be. Both of the Seekers watching watched as Starscream's memory showed him a spot to sit, and sit he did. Where Optimus showed up in his line of view and said some words, but they couldn't hear. They also watched as Ratchet approached his vision and how he followed him willingly. Something _had _to be wrong with him to follow the crazy medic without a fight. As they continued to observe, they saw how Ratchet had him in the med bay and how he was talking to him, and Starscream seemed only to be listening, that is, until he shut down _again_.

**Automatic System Override – System Shutdown Imminent – Processor Unstable!**

Starscream twitched and went lax as the shut down on his memory HUD flashed. They watched as it took a full 8 minutes for Starscream's systems to boot him back up. They were taking longer and longer, and they were also seeking issues with his HUD as each time he shut down seemed to harm him more.

**Processor Damage – 21 Percent Functional – Stable.**

By now, the two Seekers watching were really wondering what was causing Starscream to shut down so much. They both decided if they ever became grounded to be killed immediately and made a silent pact to offline the other should one ever have this happen. As they looked at each other, they looked back at the screen.

Ratchet and Optimus watched as Starscream attacked Sideswipe. Ratchet knew immediately what was happening, but the Seekers who were watching had no idea. They hadn't realized he was trying to self terminate without doing it himself. They watched as Starscream reached for his own exposed spark, but didn't' touch it, his arm just dropped. Why was he moving? Maybe the two should alert the medic that something more was going on as they viewed the screen. They watched as Starscream was blindsided by someone and the screen went dark. He had apparently been forced into Stasis Lock. His HUD read out that he was out for 12 minutes.

**Processor damage – 42 Percent Functional – Stable.**

**Navigations Systems – Offline.**

_A soul's intention is learning to fly  
Condition grounded but determined to try _

The two seekers watched more, seeing how Starscream's HUD was telling him that his Processor had sustained over 20 percent more damage just from that offline. They both gasped, this time being heard by the two inside the room. Ratchet and Optimus turned abruptly, pausing the machine. A dark glare came from the medic as he approached the doors and pressed a button, letting them slide open, "Just what do you two think you are doing here?"

"We are watching, Ratchet, we feel the need to, we never… we never realized the trauma he had sustained. When did all of this happen?" Skywarp asked.

"Years ago. When he was sparked, he was brought back to life. It still baffles me as to how he is remembering," Ratchet's voice went soft.

"He's moving, you know, is he supposed to do that?" Thundercracker asked.

"He what?" Ratchet abruptly turned to look at the Seeker on the berth, but saw no motion, then looked back at the two who had been spying, "I don't' see anything,"

"He did!" Skywarp insisted, pointing to the Seeker.

"Ratchet, Optimus, I think us two should continue to watch this,"

"Why?" ratchet asked briskly.

"Because… he is our leader. We feel we have a right to know what he has been through. We have been with him since he was sparked – the first time. It's only right."

Optimus nodded, they were right. They were his wing mates, "Let them in Ratchet," Ratchet followed the two other Seekers in and moved to the consol once again, "Are you ready?" he asked, "This isn't going to be pretty,"

Both of the Seekers nodded their heads, and Ratchet turned to the consol and started the playback once more. They first heard a pained whine from the Seeker who lie on the berth. It wasn't a normal pained whine, but one that seemed to plead to the powers that be. They glanced back up at the screen. They watched as Starscream seemed to look around and then again, his HUD displayed their red warnings. This time the warnings were different. Optimus' concern was evident. Was he supposed to be acting like that? Ratchet hadn't said anything, but he felt that he might want to.

**WARNING:** **Automatic System Override – System Shutdown Imminent – Processor Unstable!**

Both of the wing mates looked to Starscream who seemed to tense then relax again, "Why was he shutting down so much?" Thundercracker asked.

Ratchet stopped the playback, and turned to the pair, a saddened looked crossed the medic's face, "Because he was trying to kill himself, and his self preservation was kicking in." He tried his best to sound professional, but he knew it was failing.

"What about the processor damage?" Skywarp asked before Ratchet could start the playback again.

"Because each time he shut down it was frying his circuits." Ratchet's voice betrayed how professional he was trying to sound. He turned and reluctantly hit the button to start the playback again. It showed his processor had been offline for about 16 minutes this time, and when it finally showed his damage on his HUD it was different.

**WARNING****: Processor damage – 58 Percent Functional – Stability Check Failed – Recheck?**

They watched as Starscream's body shuddered, but did nothing more. They glanced back at the screen as it showed his damage reports.

**WARNING****: Processor damage – 58 Percent Functional – Stable.**

Optimus move to the button he found to be the one that paused the playback, Ratchet looked up at Optimus, "Is something wrong?"

"I want to know why he is reacting to those playbacks, Ratchet,"

Ratchet glanced to the body on the berth, then back to Optimus, "I can only assume that they are physical reenactments of what happened then," Because he really didn't know.

"Are you sure this is not harming him in any way?"

"The computer would have told me so,"

"Wow," Thundercracker sighed, staring at the last playback that was paused. That warning. He had never seen such a warning in his own lifetime. He glanced at Skywarp who was also glued to the warning. He couldn't believe his optics. It was crazy to think that Starscream was still even moving with such dramatic damage to his processors, but out of curiosity, they continued to watch. It showed him getting up and how he bolted, headed beside a building, which they assumed to be the main building, and how he headed for a really high fence. Starscream himself shuddered and jerked quickly, then relaxed again as the playback showed him clearing the fence and how others were hot on his tail.

**Energy levels – Critical – Suggest Stasis Lock.**

Apparently Starscream ignored the request and kept running. It showed him firing at the Autobots as they closed in on him, and showed as he fired on everything and anything except humans and buildings, trying to get the Autobots attention, trying to get them to offline him. When none of the Autobots attacked him back, Starscream's HUD showed that there was incoming. About 4 jets were sent to dispatch of the threat. The Seekers watching jaws dropped as they saw Starscream make no move to attack them. Optimus and Ratchet looked away. They knew what happened here. They were there. The two Seekers continued to watch as Starscream was bombarded by Sabot rounds and missiles. They gaped even more as Starscream's body jerked and moved as if he was really being attacked. Fear and anguish plain on their faceplates. They looked back at the screen to see in red all of the failures that were on Starscream's HUD.

**WARNING****: Outer Armor – Damaged – Unstable.**

**WARNING****: Weapons – Damaged – Unstable.**

**WARNING****: Ocular senses – Critical – Failing.**

**WARNING****: Communications System – Failed to Initiate – Offline.**

**WARNING****: Energon – Critical Levels – Stasis Lock Imminent. **

"No, it can't be!" Thundercracker called out, watching as the warnings flashed over the screen. Skywarp was speechless, "I can't believe this! This can't be! He was one of the most proud Decepticons in the fleet."

Ratchet nor Optimus answered as Starscream's memories played out.

**WARNING****: Energon Pump – Failing – Damage Critical.**

**WARNING****: Spark Chamber – Damage Critical.**

**WARNING****: Spark Unstable –Damage Critical – Termination Imminent!**

And it was here that every watched as Starscream's spark took off from his body. This had to of been it. There was something peculiar about it. Sparks don't just leave their bodies, they die out, so what had happened? He had become a ghost, in a sense. To this, Ratchet put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5. Starscream was no ordinary Cybertronian. There was something about him. His memory banks continued to as he floated and flew through the air as nothing but energy, "That's it," Ratchet pointed at screen, "He's n ordinary Cybertronian, and he has a gift."

"Wh-what gift is that?" Thundercracker could hardly form any words.

"He has the ability to leave his shell – or body – per se. This makes him older than I thought. When Optimus re-sparked him, he brought him from wherever he was into a new body."

"You think he's older than Megatron?"

"Oh, yes, I bet so." Ratchet answered as he glanced back at the sleeping Seeker on the berth. This was a good enough explanation as to why he was so intelligent if not sometimes downright stupid, the trademark of intelligence.

_Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,  
My grubby halo, a vapor trail in the empty air, _

They all stared at the screen in shock. This was monumental! Here, in this room, they all witnessed something so amazing that none could really form it into words.

Ratchet stared at the world around the spark that floated freely. There wasn't much thought process. In fact, the watched as he went through the air, playing as care free as he had when he was first re-sparked. It was a feeling that overwhelmed them all as they watched from the sidelines. Not only was Starscream gifted, he was also older than any of them could imagine. How old was he, exactly? How was he able to leave bodies like that? How many times has he actually been re-sparked? So many questions with so little answers. But the question that made Ratchet curious is: Did he know he could even do it?

_Above the clouds I see my shadow fly  
Out of the corner of my watering eye  
To dream unthreatened by the morning light  
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night  
There's no sensation to compare with this  
Suspended animation, A state of bliss _

Just as they were all gaping at the spark that was flying so freely, it screen suddenly went dark, and Starscream started to move.

**Connection terminated.**

**System idle – Awaiting instructions.**

The silver Seeker moved more and more, and finally he reached up with his left hand and pulled at the wires, causing them to spark madly as he disconnected them by ripping them from his body. He doubled over in pain when he ripped the one from his spark, "What… What happened to me?" His voice was scratchy at best, as if it had been offline for years.

"Starscream, relax," Ratchet demanded, and the seeker looked up at him, "I swear I just had the worst nightmare…" He paused, looking around. Even though he was looking, he was realizing it hadn't been a dream, it was something far more, "…Ever." And he stopped.

"Starscream? What's the matter?" Thundercracker asked, pushing himself in front of Skywarp.

"I… I don't know." Starscream answered, grabbing at his helm, he fluttered his optics. All of this had been a memory. From his own memory. But how? _What!?_ He was so confused! The only one who could answer was standing there, and he moved his hand from his face and glanced at the medic, "Explain this!" He suddenly demanded, causing Ratchet to flinch at his harsh demand.

"Starscream, I…" he paused, thinking of a way to tell him.

"Tell me what is going on!" the demand had an underlying tone that made Ratchet reel back.

"I.. your… your memories, Starscream," Ratchet stuttered over his words, trying to find something he could tell, but found it difficult, "Your memories are from a past life, Starscream,"

Starscream's face went to shock. _How could this be?_ "Past life? How is that possible? I saw all of you."


	9. Heavier Things Remain

**A/N: Don't own.**

_Yes, finally an update to this story. Seems it decided to take a life of it's own and want to be longer than I had expected... lol_

_I m still gradually working on others as I go, putting updates to those that seem to get more attention than others. Much love to all my readers and reviewers! Sorry for the long wait._

_Still have decided what story I should just get done and finish up, I will put up a Poll I think and see who wants what lol_

* * *

If one could think of any word that Starscream was feeling, they would have failed. He stared with no expression whatsoever on his face as Optimus and Ratchet asked him about those playbacks and went along explaining that he, in fact, had really died. The scientist in him wanted to know how or why but he didn't ask. They all were rather uneasy having to explain events to him that had happened, and they really didn't want to talk about why he was on Earth or why he was trying to escape the planet.

"So you mean I died… for real?" Starscream's voice softened. Whether it was from confusion of realization, no one knew.

Ratchet nodded solemnly to the Seeker. It hurt his spark to remember those days, "But when you were re-sparked-"

"Wait," Starscream suddenly held a hand up, stopping the medic in his train of thought, "_Re_-sparked?" He knew what being sparked was, but re-sparked? That was new.

"Starscream, when I used the Matrix, as the last hope for Cybertronians, when the spark came to life, it was you. No one could figure it out, and for the most part, we all considered it a… second chance – a gift from Primus if you will."

Starscream stirred as he thought. If there had been gears running his brain, everyone would have surely heard them grinding. He went to speak, but caught himself, unsure of what to ask or what to say. A few times he had done this, and Ratchet caught onto it, "If you feel the need to ask, then ask,"

"Who's Megatron?" Starscream suddenly asked. If the Autobots and present ex-Decepticons could pale, now would have been the time to do so. There was no real reason for him to bring _that_ name up.

Thundercracker walked up and placed a hand on the young Seeker's shoulder, "Can we talk about that another time?" He asked. His was voice pleading for Starscream to accept.

"Why…?" He drawled out, eyeing Thundercracker suspiciously, "His name keeps coming to me,"

"Because now is not the time, we are still on the verge of a new idea, think of how old you could be, Starscream!" He boasted, trying – using anything he could think of to get Starscream off of Megatron. No one wanted to step there, not yet.

"Starscream," Ratchet started, gaining the Seeker's attention immediately, "You have a gift, a very special gift. It's never been recorded ever in Cybertronian history." He paused, thinking of the right words, "I really can't think of any words to call what this is." Ratchet put a hand to the air, exasperated.

"I want to know the rest of my history, Ratchet," Starscream said with pleading optics.

"In due time, young one," Optimus' voice suddenly called, "first things first, alright?"

Starscream nodded.

In all the times Optimus hoped that no one would tell Starscream about his further past until he deemed it ready. Starscream was surely an Autobot, there was no denying that. He had already prayed the creed not to hurt humans on his own, and he figured that it would hold.

Starscream noticed the gathering eyes outside of the medical bay. He looked away from them, "We have an audience," he said simply.

Optimus' optics went to the door and he folded his arms. He had wondered how long it would take, "You know, Wheeljack might be able to help you with this new development," Optimus looked to Ratchet and Starscream.

Ratchet nodded as he reached over and shut the machine down, "I'll ask him about it later,"

Optimus nodded, then looked to Starscream, who seemed in depth of thought, "Starscream are you alright?" He asked.

Starscream looked up, "I need some time, I think," He stood up and headed for the door, pressing the button, only to get about 5 mechs to fall at his feet. _Nosy slaggers_. He snorted and stepped over him with his digigrade legs and continued down the hall. He felt Optimus' spark full of worry, and only sent back a promise that everything would be alright," After that Optimus seemed to calm and Starscream let a small smile cross his face as he headed to his personal quarters.

After Starscream was gone, Optimus gave Ratchet a worried look. The look was mirrored by his CMO. When he heard the rest getting to their feet who had been watching, he nodded at them, "Show is over," he said dully.

The rest slumped, but were still curious Wheeljack stepped forward, however, as the rest retreated. He wasn't sure if speaking was the best move at the moment so he stood silently, waiting for someone to say something – anything.

"Wheeljack, there's something I want to speak to you about," ratchet finally said, looking to his friend.

"What is it, Ratchet?"

The pair of seekers in the room decided to make their leave. Technical stuff just wasn't for them, and they knew if Ratchet and Wheeljack were gonna talk, their brains would hurt by time they were through jabbering.

Starscream stirred on his berth, considering what all had gone on to him today. The trip down memory lane served 2 purposes. Questions and tiredness. He laid back roughly, staring at the ceiling as thought coursed through his brain as energon did his lines. Of all the questions that wracked his mind, the question that bothered him the most was: Who is this Megatron person? And why did he constantly get nagging thoughts about that name?

"Wheeljack, just the person I wanted to see," Ratchet looked to the resident inventor, "there are a few things I require your help with,"

"Really? What would that be Ratch?"

"Well, we discovered an anomaly on Starscream, and thought you could help me piece things together,"

"What kind of an anomaly?"

Ratchet let a rough amount of air through his intakes, "I don't think you would believe me if I told you,"

"Try me," Wheeljack grinned. He was always up for a good challenge.

"Well," he started, "You know about what happened to Starscream many years ago, before he died… first,"

"yeah, I do, what does that have to do with some anomaly?"

"Because, Wheeljack," he leaned in closer to the CME, "Starscream, we think is ancient,"

Wheeljack was about laughing, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ratchet looked over at the other interested mechs before grunting, "All of you leave," He said, making shooing motions.

Not wanting to incur the Medic's wrath, they all left, pouting. When Ratchet was sure that no one would hear, he turned to the machine that Starscream was hooked up, "I have downloaded his memories into this machine. I want you to pay special attention to this," he pressed a button, fast forwarding the memory extraction to the end.

Wheeljack gawked as he watched the spark leave it's body and float away, not disappear like most should, "What is this?" He asked slowly.

"That, my friend, is Starscream's spark."

"Bu that's not possible…" Wheeljack stared a the floating spark paused, his finger going to his chin in thought, "It left? It didn't disappear?"

"Exactly," Ratchet confirmed.

"Has he always been able to do this?"

"I am not sure, but it's a high possibility,"

"So that means…" Wheeljack fell silent, his optics narrowing, "That, if he has always had this gift, he could very well be a lot older than any of us,"

Ratchet nodded, "Yes,"

"But Ratchet, you know what this means?"

Ratchet remained silent, unsure what to say about it.

"I want to run some tests on him – his spark." Wheeljack said with a hint of excitement.

"Not so fast, 'Jack," Optimus, who had been quiet, stepped forward, "He also asked who Megatron is. If he wants another memory extraction, it may tell him who he was before he died."

"That wouldn't be a good thing,"

"Actually, I don't think it will hold any bearing on how he is. He is changed."

"If we tell him, he might go just a little nuts. Here, we have been telling him that the Decepticons were vanquished a long while ago by those… Plasma cannons," Optimus sighed, "this is a lot for him to take in. I don't want to drop such… bombs on him so quickly. Let him get used to one thing at a time,"

Starscream brewed for about another hour before he sat up. He would find out why this name haunted him so much. He figured he could try his wing mates again or even Soundwave. But that bucket of bolts was tight lipped all of the time, and if he felt the need to keep things from Starscream, well by the stars, he didn't speak of it.

Perhaps another memory extraction was due. If they found out his most recent lives, they might be able to delve in deeper, at least he hoped they did.

He stood up slowly and headed for the door, a long sigh escaping his vents before he headed back to the med bay. When he got there, he saw Ratchet and Wheeljack talking. He stepped in quickly, "No, you're not running any tests on me until I get more answers," he deadpanned.

"Starscream, why are you back so soon?"

"I want to find out more. If you saw one of my… past lives," That sounded strange to say, "I want to see more,"

"Given your current condition, Starscream… I do-" Wheeljack started.

"_Can_ it be done?" the Seeker interrupted, directing his attention to Ratchet.

"Possibly, but I am not for sure," Ratchet answered lowly.

"I want to try,"

"And what will it solve?"

Optimus stirred in his seat. Show him about the Decepticons? Show him that he was under the rule of Megatron? He wasn't too sure that this should go on, "Starscream, why don't you wait until morning?"

"Because," he started, "the name Megatron haunts me. I want to know why." His voice was rigid and Optimus picked it up, puckering an eye ridge at the Seeker. He wondered silently why Megatron's name was haunting him. But he remembered everything that Megatron had put him through. Granted Starscream wasn't the nicest of people, but he came to the conclusion that Megatron had done a lot to this poor fellow in his past.

Starscream sat down on the berth next to the machine which Ratchet fired up again, "Doing this so soon is not advised," The old medic spoke, giving a glare to Starscream.

"I don't care, Ratchet. I want to know what's going on. I just learn today that I am older than dirt, who knows where I truly came from? Who I was? Where I have been? Wouldn't you be just a little interested?"

Ratchet thought about it. Yes, he would want to know all of those things, too, if he found out he was old… really old, "Very well, Starscream," Ratchet agreed, reaching down for wires and pulling them and separating them. When he was done he reached to Starscream and flicked a hidden latch, exposing Starscream's sensitive spark. Under any other circumstances, Starscream would have been nervous, but he was in the presence of those he trusted and loved. He gave one final glance to the machine as it's readout confirmed connections and as it started to set him into stasis, he glanced at his creator, "Wish me luck," he said gently.

Optimus nodded. He really didn't like the idea of Starscream going through all of his past again, but it would also give answers. No one knew how far back the extraction could go, so this was walking into unknown territory.

As Starscream lost consciousness, Optimus looked to Ratchet then to Wheeljack, who had preferred to stay this time to observe. He was curious. This was all new territory for him and he wanted to find out as much as he could.

Optimus looked on. He knew this would be a great turning point for his beloved Seeker. He just hoped that Starscream would be able to handle what was yet to come.

* * *

_Next Chappy: Lets all take a look into Starscream's past, why don't we?_


	10. Unkown by Means of the More Unknown

**A/N: Don't own, comprende?**

_As promised, here's another update. Hope you all enjoy!  
_

_Ty Bloodshifter, I don't know what I would do without you :)_

_Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers. Your interest makes this story move! I appreciate all!_

_Now, on with the mystery of Starscream._

* * *

**Memory Extraction activated – waiting instructions.**

As Starscream lied on the berth, his body limp and his mind and memories being downloaded, Optimus, Ratchet and Wheeljack looked on. The source of their attention: The screen that was playing back all that Ratchet dug through. With different commands the machine would go to different parts of the Seeker's mind, searching, hunting.

"He is going to remember this, isn't he?" Wheeljack asked as he folded his arms and looked on.

Ratchet nodded, "He remembered the last views," He turned a knob here and there, glancing up at the screen. They were taking a private ride into Starscream's past which even he didn't realize he had.

The first thing they witnessed was Starscream standing beside Megatron. This was not to be unexpected. They were standing in a room that was rather decorated and looked out across miles of land. He and Megatron were having a conversation. Optimus recognized it immediately. It was before the civil wars on Cybertron. He deducted that Starscream had been at his side ever since the beginning of the wars.

Starscream twitched on the berth, causing Wheeljack to startle and look down, "Is he supposed to do that?"

"He does, every once in a while," Ratchet answered, "It's I guess his normal body reacting to the memory flood,"

"But is that good?" Wheeljack asked.

Ignoring his friend's question, Ratchet growled, "Damn I wish we had audio for this," Ratchet grumbled.

Optimus watched with firm optics as the screen went dark as the computer searched for another memory to pick up. As it did, the room lit up again as it showed Starscream and Megatron flying over the cities. There were a few others with them and they were all in robot form. They may have been looking for something, or they may have been planning, but because there was no sound, no one knew for sure.

Clips played out on the screen, more often than not, they watched as Starscream was continually abused and tormented by Megatron. Although they couldn't hear anything, the violence that played out before them was more than convincing. It made them all wonder why he even stuck by him in the first place. More than once in a day did Starscream meet the business end of Megatron's fusion cannon, but seemed to survive every shot almost unscathed.

"You'd think he'd give up and leave the tyrant, no?"

_Twitch._

"What I want to know is…" Optimus put a finger in thought to his chin, "This is before the battle at Tyger Pax, so this is before the civil war. Megatron was this mean to him then, although no one knew about it,"

"Apparently Megatron was a disaster waiting to happen, Optimus," Wheeljack piped up, watching the abuse and cringing, "Seems he has always been this ruthless creature even then,"

"If Starscream had said anything, then we would have been able to stave off the attacks and possibly be forewarned about Megatron's deceit."

_Twitch, twitch._

"Maybe he was threatened with his life? You know how proud that mech is – was – whatever."

"Oh, trust me, he's just as proud as always," Optimus smirked at Wheeljack.

**Memory recall state – Allspark disappearance.**

**Bad sector of memory – salvaging.**

Ratchet turned a knob slightly and it showed the Seeker flying over Tyger Pax. He was apparently headed somewhere, then the screen went black. A few seconds later, the screen came to life with the battle of Tyger Pax as it played out. If a Cybertronian could be heartbroken, he would be right now. As the Seeker flew overhead, firing here and there, it showed him never directly being the result of the femme's disappearance or what had happened to Bumblebee. It also showed that he wasn't there a whole lot, only glimpses of the battle before the Allspark was shot into space. The screen went dark once again.

Starscream twitched yet again, his arm moving out and then down again, going limp. Wheeljack raised an optic ridge in question at the movement.

It lit up with him standing around a group of Decepticons. He had been talking to them, and there seemed to be a few angered in the meeting. They were discussing the retrieval of the Allspark, perhaps. Although Starscream did not want to retrieve Megatron, the rest of the Decepticons didn't like his idea of leaving him to rot, because one of them attacked Starscream. The screen went dark before any other video could be played of those events.

**Memory block irretrievable – possible cause – damaged.**

Ratchet snorted and fiddled again, wanting to go deeper, "There's more to this mech than meets the eye, Optimus,"

"How far back can you go?"

"We will just have to find out, won't we?" Ratchet gave a small grin to his leader and looked back at the screen.

**Memory recall state – Youngling.**

The screen came to life with 2 other young Seekers. The two were sitting beside Starscream talking. What they were talking about was anyone's guess, but they seemed calm. None of them had faction symbols, indicating that there was no war to be had at the time. Optimus let out a sigh. He remembered those days. When he and Lord High Protector Megatron watched over the peaceful planet. Neither ratchet, nor Wheeljack missed the longing look on Optimus' faceplates. They all missed those days.

_Twitch._

Suddenly new words appeared on the screen.

**WARNING: Unrecalled memory found – Firewalled.**

This time Starscream seemed to convulse, his back arching from the berth as his arms flailed, causing everyone to suddenly go for him and hold him down. It took nearly all of Optimus' weight and strength to hold down the Seeker's mid section.

"What's going on!?" Wheeljack asked, holding onto one of the Seeker's arms.

A firewalled memory? How was that possible? No one had ever had their own memories firewalled before. Ratchet twisted his face in disgust and irritation, "This is new,"

Ratchet let go of the legs he was holding and walked back to the machine. Why had the one caused such a violent outburst from the young Seeker?

"Never in my time of ever doing this has _that_ occurred," He looked at the still convulsing Starscream, deciding it was best to administer some sedative. Even though he wasn't awake, he was fighting, but why?

"You're the doc, doc, what's the news?"

"It seems Starscream has memories that are firewalled," His voice was more in thought than just blurting out information.

"Since when are memories firewalled?" Wheeljack asked, then glanced down at the young Seeker, "unless they're hiding something,"

"If he's hiding something, even he doesn't know it's hidden,"

"Can you break down the firewall?" Optimus asked, curious as to these new developments.

"I can try with the machine first, Optimus, if not, I will have to go in manually," Ratchet replied, pressing a few buttons on the machine

**WARNING: Silent Memory is Firewalled – attempt to destroy will result in complete memory loss in sector – continue?**

Well _that_ is _not_ what Ratchet wanted to see. What was so secret that his memory would be destroyed if the firewall was breached? He could possibly get around it, knowing the inner workings of all Cybertronians he also had a few secrets up his own proverbial sleeve as he glanced at Optimus, "With your permission, sir," He asked.

Optimus puckered his optic ridges and frowned, "Can you without destroying the memory?"

"All these millennia and you still doubt me? Optimus, I'm insulted," The medic mocked as he gave Optimus a small smile and then looked back at Starscream. His eyes then diverted to Wheeljack, "Well, be happy you're here, I need your help for this,"

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to connect to him here," he reached down next to Starscream's head and removed a panel from it, "You se that green port? Plug into it, but do not do anything or access it quite yet,"

Wheeljack looked down at the Seeker, then back to Ratchet, "Very well," he reached into his wrist and pulled a slender white wire and then hooked it into said port.

"Beware of the backlash, Wheeljack, are you ready?" Wheeljack nodded.

Ratchet reached to the other side of the panel and searched for another port, connecting to it, his optics dimmed a moment then went bright again, "Ok, on my mark, I want you to bypass the other sectors and go straight to the firewalled one and when I say, access it." Another nod.

"Mark," Ratchet's and Wheeljack's optics went dim for a few seconds and then both came back quickly thereafter. When it was done Ratchet glanced at the screen.

**WARNING: Silent Memory Firewall disabled – continue?**

"Alright, disconnect," Ratchet unhooked his own wire while Wheeljack did the same. Both set the wires back where they belonged, "Thanks, I hadn't expected this,"

Wheeljack stood back near Optimus, who seemed nervous as ever.

Ratchet hit a button on the machine and the screen fizzled out. A few seconds later, they were gazing upon a nearly empty silver planet. It was clean, barely built, as if it was as new as being just born into the solar system it inhabited. _Wait, silver? _There was no smoke, no smog no nothing, the stars over the planet were bright as the eyes of the Seeker went over it. Also in the optic range of the Seeker was another planet close by, it was darker than the silver one. It was as if he was examining the land for the first time. Before anything could say anything, however, they saw something peculiar. There were those around that no one in the room recognized.

Optimus had thought he had met every Cybertronian that had ever been sparked – until now. His furrowing optic ridges showed how he was scrutinizing the mech as if trying to place him, "Hmm,"

"Who's this?" Wheeljack asked, pointing to the three new Cybertronians on the screen. - All of the unknown mechs gave them the feeling that this was monumental. Optimus could have sworn he knew - or knew of the one who stood further to the right. He swore he had seen him before, even if it was from a long gone memory. But who were the other two?

"Hell if I know," Ratchet responded. He reached over and paused the memory extraction. It happened to pause on a behemoth of a machine, standing there looking around. He looked old… really old. No one had ever seen designs like him before. In the center of his chest was a giant orb, which glowed a slightly blue, mixed with red. The mech in question looked noble and wise.

"Slag, I wish we had audio," Ratchet grumbled once again. Yes, Audio would definitely help in this situation.

Little had they known, they were now looking upon one of the ancients of Cybertron. Standing there on the screen was one of the lost myths along with all of the others and even Primus himself. There was a reason for the physical outburst, and a reason for the firewall, and a reason that if it was messed with, the memory would be erased. Secrets that were meant to remain as such… secrets. That is why it was called a 'Blind Memory'… he wasn't supposed to remember.

Stepping into this new memory was like inventing a new machine. It would answer a lot of questions as to who Starscream really was and what he was doing with these unfamiliar mechs.

* * *

_Anyone want to guess as to who Starscream is seeing in his memory? Cookies to those who get it right! :D_

_Next Chappy: We find out about this new mysterious Starscream!_


	11. So It Begins

_Ok, so much for saying the story was going to end. It's apparently not. Another plot creeped it's way into the story, and it would be just cruel to cut it off there, huh? _

_Hopefully, you all enjoy this next chapter!_

**A/N:** I claim nothing but the plot. 'Nuff said.

**A/N 2:** Each of these titles have a Latin quote translated to English. Just a notable note... lol

* * *

As the screen sat seemingly in limbo on what Ratchet had paused it on, the unfamiliar Mech and a dark grey – almost charcoal – moon by the place they came to think was only Cybertron, they all pondered about it. None of them had ever known Cybertron to have a moon – which made Optimus consider that perhaps the ones on the screen were on a different planet altogether, which wasn't unheard of.

Charr, for example, had a moon. But the planet itself was nearly a fireball itself, being too close to any star to actual keep any other life other than Cybertronians, the heat being sometimes unbearable to the mechs who had been exiled there.

They'd never seen one orbiting the planet of Cybertron before in their long lives, so what was this? It couldn't have been Cybertron. The image only formed more questions than answers.

They also had never seen any of these mechs before, this one, in particular that the playback had happened to be paused on. Optimus studied him closely. He was mostly an off-silver white with red that adorned his seams and body in various places with hints of blues and golds. His chest, which had the orb and glowed slightly seemed to have a spark – if that's what it was, one could only guess, but it wasn't one like any of them had ever seen. The Spark chamber was usually always protected deep within the chest, given they were so vulnerable, so why would any Cybertronian have it so close to the outside?

In his right hand, what appeared to be the hilt of a sword in his hand, but no one could tell for sure as they scrutinized the memory before them. It was a weapon, that much they could say, but what exactly, they could not. None of them ever heard of using swords anyways – so why was this one using what appeared to be a sword?

"Play it, but be prepared to pause it, I want to record an image of each of these new mechs," Optimus nodded towards the screen, already having taken this one's form and kept it to memory.

Ratchet reached forward and allowed the extraction to go forth. A soft, 'hmm' was heard from him as Starscream's optics turned fully onto the moon, a few readings coming across his HUD as it did so, giving dimensions and such but some things even the ones in the room had no idea what they said, "Pause that," Optimus said and Ratchet did as instructed, looking to where Optimus was looking. His optics staring down the writing all over the HUD, "Can any of you read that?" It wasn't the first time they had seen it. They hadn't addressed it before, because they were already awestruck by the occurrences before them.

"Nope," Ratchet answered.

"Not at all, is it even Cybertronian?" Wheeljack responded, tilting his head slightly. It appeared to be Cybertronian, but since when could they not understand their own language?

"It looks Cybertronian, but…" Optimus paused, "I have only seen those marks on the Allspark," His optics narrowed as he studied it, "so it must be,"

"You're saying that these guys used the same language as the Allspark?" Wheeljack asked.

Optimus nodded, it was the only conclusion. No one really knew all of the Allspark's secrets. They only really knew that it gave life and was older than Cybertron itself – or at least that's what they had heard, but now this image was contradicting that in a big way.

"No one knew where the Allspark came from."

"But this is showing the same language. Do you think someone has skewed a little in the origins of the Allspark itself?"

"I think it's pretty obvious." Optimus replied curtly. Why would historians want to lie about where the Allspark came from?

"Continue playback," Optimus said almost with awe in his voice.

If the others were talking they would never have known it. Starscream flinched a few times as the memory proceeded and Optimus stared as two other mechs came into Starscream's field of vision, "Pause it," he ordered, and Ratchet did such. Optimus stared at the two new mechs on the screen, writing every detail of each of them to memory.

"Who _are_ they?" Wheeljack asked, completely confused.

"I don't know, Wheeljack. We can only assume they are on a distant planet. Cybertron never had a moon,"

"Whatever this is, it's unwritten in anything I have ever read," Ratchet replied, looking to Optimus to see if he was done, and Optimus only nodded at the unspoken question.

Ratchet allowed the extraction to play back, when he knew to stop on 4 other mechs, allowing Optimus to put them to memory for later examination. They all seemed to be standing around, mostly talking with constant looks to the moon as if worried about it. Who knew – Maybe it was going to explode? Starscream's vision fixed on the two that the memory had first spotted. Again Ratchet paused it while Optimus stared at the screen. Not only committing them to memory, but also studying the one. He swore he knew this guy, but couldn't place him.

"Optimus, are you alright?" Ratchet asked, concerned as he saw his leader staring so intently at the view.

"I – I don't know, Ratchet. I feel like I know that mech, or I should… but I have never met him in my life," Optimus responded, not taking his optics from the view. Ratchet glanced between the view and Optimus' optics… another soft 'hmm' emanated from the medic, "Are you ready to continue?"

Optimus nodded with a shake of his head, going through his own memory banks for something to tell him who these guys were with Starscream… and when.

_Twitch._

By the time Starscream's optics had gone to all of the mechs seen, Optimus surmised that there were strangely enough only 12 – forgetting to count the one looking to the others with various conversations being the 13th himself. It still hadn't dawned on the leader.

The thought came to Wheeljack that these were the 13 original Cybertronians, but quickly cut off that idea since he didn't think Starscream was _that_ old. He couldn't even bring it to his mind to think that Starscream was standing among the ranks of such legendary Cybertronians.

The screen suddenly went white and next it cleared out to several starships flying into orbit. All of the ships looked old. They were far too old to be of any modern design like Optimus or Ratchet, or even Ironhide. Wheeljack wasn't half as old as the rest of them, but he had seen the oldest of all transformation designs – or so he thought, so he was even more confused than the rest of them as he stared at the machines, even though the thought never left him about what they might have been seeing. He held up his hand, unsure if speaking was the smartest, but the only question not asked was the stupid one, right…?

_Twitch, twitch._

…Right?

He looked to Ratchet who paused the viewing, "Something wrong Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack considered what he was thinking, "Never mind," he said gently, passing his idea off, but thought again, "What if… what if we are seeing the beginning… you know, the very beginning?"

Optimus furrowed his optic ridges in question. Wheeljack may have had a point, but this would be impossible, right? To think that Starscream was one of the original 13 made Optimus hike a ridge even higher, "You are saying that Starscream may be that old?"

"Well, maybe. I don't know, it was just a fleeting thought." He snorted at himself, "You know – disregard that. There's no way that we could possibly be seeing…" He paused, "Primus," His voice was accompanied by a quick inhalation in his vents.

"What?" Ratchet asked expectantly.

"Well, I remember as a youngling – while I was still at the academy, learning a little about the story of the first 13-"

"It was standard, but as you can see, this is not Cybertron – This planet has a moon." Ratchet countered, cutting the Engineer off, "Besides, the ones you are talking about are the ones who came across the Allspark on Cybertron,"

Wheeljack nodded, "You know, you're right," He almost laughed as he chided himself for even thinking that they were viewing such stories first hand.

Ratchet continued the playback and they watched as the large group of Cybertronians made their way to the moon and came close to it, yet to have landing there, "What do you think their doing?"

Starscream did something unexpected, this time, while they watched. He vibrated as if he had been struck by lightning then went limp again.

Ratchet shrugged with a hiked optic ridge, "Exploring?" he glanced back at the screen.

What they hadn't known that if they had turned around, they wouldn't have seen a planet behind them, but a Cybertronian. A very, very big Cybertronian. And if they only knew what – or rather _who_ they were seeing as this 'moon' they would have all probably shorted a circuit or two.

For some reason, Unicron and the battle of Primus himself were omitted from any story any of them had ever heard. Even the myth of the few Cybertronians was just that – a myth. The 13 they had heard about were supposedly workers for old Cybertron. By the story, these were the ones to have stumbled upon the Allspark in the depths underground.

However, what they were witnessing was nothing like they had heard in the books they read at the academy. The Myth, the true history of how the Allspark came to be, and the 13 Cybertronians who helped defeat the worst evil that the race ever encountered and never knew about were on the screen, as if here to rewrite history itself.

And as quickly as it had all come, it was gone. A loud bang and startled cry suddenly made them all flinch as the memory went black on the screen and Starscream started to writhe on the berth. His body disconnecting from all of the ports he had been connected with, rendering the machine idle. His optics flashed on and he sat up slowly. They were no longer the red color everyone was so used to seeing, but more of a green color. It was seen in the optics of all of the others in Starscream's memory, as the ones in the room observed, "Starscream?" Optimus asked curiously. He went to place a hand on the youngling's shoulder, only to have said youngling rip his shoulder away violently and give the offending hand a dirty look as if it was invading his personal and private space.

The green alienated optics went over each in the room. He acted as if he didn't know who he was in a room with, scrutinizing each one with an unfamiliar, unblinking glare.

Optimus blinked a few times questioningly at Starscream. Ratchet had already started his scans finding the bot was completely blocked off and he snorted. Wheeljack stared dumbly at the Seeker. Just then, Starscream ran off a series of Cybertronian, or what sounded like Cybertronian before glancing at them all once more and standing and walking out of the med bay without another word.

They all thought perhaps Starscream had gone over the deep end, having too much from his flooded into his processor which was wiped with each rebirth. He knew who he was around, he knew where he was, he knew _everything_. All that they had not seen on the screen, and he knew everything they would have seen if he hadn't sat up and ripped himself from the machine.

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_Next Chapter: With all that knowledge, what will Starscream do?_


	12. Out of the Blue

**Disclaimer:** Ok, it's 4 am. Not gonna type it... lol

**A/N:**_ Ok, I know you are all gonna hate me for this, but this has got to be the shortest chapter I have ever written. Save for Desperate Measures, but for this story, it's _really_ short. And you wanna know something else? It's the last chapter. (I'm such a coward, I didn't even run this by my beta before posting!) *cowers* But hey, I am gonna be starting a new one after this, so don't fret. I just felt like the way this plot was going, it needed it's own story aside from New Beginnings. _

_I wanna say THANK YOU to all who have reviewed, favorited or alerted this story. Means a lot to me. And a HUGE Thank you to bloodshifter for all her hard work to make this story so good!  
_

_So, I will shut up now and let you all delve into the wonderful world that has become Starscream._

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Starscream stared at the wall. There was so much is mind was putting into focus. There was so much information that had been unlocked, the poor mech was silent as he started sorting through them. Perhaps this is why when he re-sparked he was to have no memory, because it could overload the CPU. He grunted and continued to stare blankly at the wall until he sensed a presence, "Enter," he said gently.

Optimus hadn't even the chance to knock before he heard Starscream and the door opened, "Starscream, you haven't come out of your quarters for almost 3 days now, is everything alright?"

Starscream gave his creator a side glance, then proceeded to stare at the wall, silence again ensued for a few moments until…

"I could never understand why the history books wrote such scrap about the Cybertronians and the Allspark,"

Optimus raised an optic ridge, curious of the statement, "Pardon?" he asked, hoping Starscream would elaborate, but elaborate he did not. The Seeker stared at the wall in silence again, his optics flashing as he stored information away or deleted it if it wasn't what he thought was necessary. Optimus pondered Starscream's predicament. He knew that the mech knew things that were locked away, giving him every memory that ever happened in his overly long life, but the idea of it was also overwhelming.

Wheeljack had been asking for the Seeker to ask him questions, but Optimus wouldn't allow it, giving his creation time that he needed to come to terms with himself.

"Did you ever wonder why they lied?" Starscream's voice came.

"Who lied?"

"All of them. They erased us from history,"

"Erased who?"

"Do I have to name them? I'm sure you saw them yourself on the memory extraction machine,"

"I don't know their names, Starscream,"

Starscream let out a long and annoyed sigh, choosing to divert the topic at hand, "You do realize that when Cybertron died, Primus may very well have died along with it?"

"What are you talking about, Starscream?" Optimus was becoming more and more confused by Starscream's cryptic words.

"That only means that Unicron will perhaps return once he escapes from his prison. I'm sure of it. Just," he paused, glancing at his creator, his epic green eyes flashed and went dim, "they aren't here to stop him this time,"

"Who's Unicron?" Optimus asked. Starscream balked. Had the Primes not even heard of Unicron himself? How backwards had the stories been distorted? He wrinkled his nose and snorted in disgust, "Words are not enough to describe him," Starscream went back to staring at the wall, "he is the living entropy of darkness,"

Needless to say, Optimus was a bit curious why Starscream was speaking so strangely. Telling of names he had never heard of. Telling of how backwards Cybertronians were. And of Primus, how could he speak of him dying?

"When we were created, we all had a purpose," Starscream spoke, "yet this purpose has apparently come to an abrupt end," He optics shuttered, "therefore I have no purpose,"

"What are you saying Starscream, of course you have a purpose,"

Starscream turned his head lazily to stare at Optimus for a long moment before he went back to looking at the wall. Optimus puckered an optic ridge at him. He wasn't sure how to classify Starscream's behavior, in fact he was becoming downright creepy.

"Starscream, whatever this Unicron is, I'm sure we can handle it,"

"Prepare to be surprised," The Seeker moved to stand, actually making Optimus flinch involuntarily, surprising even himself. The tension that Optimus felt was so tight it could be cut with a dull butter knife, "Don't fear me, my creator," Starscream walked past Optimus without another word.

Yeah, creepy.

Ratchet walked by Starscream, he shuddered as a foreboding feeling overcame him as he got closer to the seeker, he turned his head to glance back at him as he headed for his medical bay. As he did, he walked by the mech's quarters and he stopped, backing up to look in, he saw Optimus standing there.

His leader was apparently stunned, as he didn't even acknowledge Ratchet's appearance, "Sir?" Ratchet asked, turning into the room.

"Have you considered running in depth cerebral scans on Starscream?" Optimus asked.

"I tried that, he has me completely blocked off," Ratchet started, "I cannot penetrate them, which is highly unusual,"

"Yes, unusual," Optimus echoed, turning towards the door not even looking at his CMO.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Optimus stopped at the door, not even turning to Ratchet, "No," he replied before he kept on walking.

Ratchet shuddered. What was this he was sensing? Now he knew something wasn't right.

**The End**

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_End note: Haha, did any of it make sense? No? Didn't think so. Good, now, perhaps that'll make you wanna read the next story we have in line, eh?_

_Watch for it...  
_


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